Mister Potter meets the Doctor
by reallyneedsahobby
Summary: Au OOTP: 3way crossover between HP, Doctor Who, and Garth Nix's Abhorsen. In which Harry meets the Doctor, finds out he's the Abhorsen and is taken along the Doctor's adventures, all the while leanring to become the next Abhorsen.
1. Chapter 1

This is something that has been working in my mind for awhile now. It's basically a Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and Abhorsen/ Old Kingdom Series (whichever one you know it by) crossover, none of which I own. In this Harry finds out that he is the next Abhorsen and the Doctor is helping him get rid of the sudden influx of Dead and Free Magic creatures, all the while keeping up with his own alien adventures throughout time and space. I'm not sure how this is going to work out, or even if it will be enjoyable, but this is something that has never been done before and I'd like to take a stab at it. So please no flames and just try it.

Harry looked at the door for a few moments longer and strained his ears for any more sounds. He heard the Dursleys get into the car and drive off. He waited another ten minutes, lying still, listening incase someone had forgotten something and needed to come back and get it. No one came.

Harry swung his legs over the side and stood up. Hedwig was out hunting for the night and wouldn't be back until morning. He scoped around the desk and saw the letters lying there. On the bottom of the pile, were the letters from the ministry and Mr. Weasley. On top of those where the letters from Ron and Hermione. He scoffed at them; they were so unhelpful and purposely altered, by orders of Dumbledore. The man was insufferable. Why keep information from the person who was saving the damn Wizarding World all of the time? Speaking of which, why the hell was he always the one saving it? Wasn't Dumbledore the most powerful wizard since Merlin? For some strange reason, it was beginning to feel like his headmaster was trying to put him in these situations on purpose and letting him take whatever the consequence for it.

However, his musings didn't last him long. His stomach decided to pronounce to him that he was hungry. He sighed and walked to the door. Though his uncle had locked it, Harry had found out a way to open it without the use of magic or lock picks. He had found out about a week ago that while the outside portions of the house were very recently put in, the interior construction was in rather bad condition. Harry gave it about another two years or so before it started showing, but it was there, if you knew where to look. Combined with the fact that Dudley had continuously slammed the door to his second bedroom, when he had still owned it, the door was actually not very sturdy and amazed Harry that it was still in one piece. The point of all this is that Harry discovered that if he knocked and banged on the door in the correct sequence, he could open the locks at will. All he was pretty much doing was jarring the locks, and eventually opening them. To close them, he attached draw strings to the outside locks so that when he went back into the room, he could lock it from the inside.

He arrived at the door and punched it in the center once, then twice near both hinges. Next, he banged on the backs of the locks that where located in the actual door. Lastly, he gave the bottom 

door a good kick and he was rewarded with several soft clicks, as the locks slid out of their holes that where drilled through the door's molding. (1)

He opened the door and attached the draw strings on the outside locks, in case he needed to get into his room in a hurry, and then closed it. He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen and pulled out some of the dinner for that night. He picked out only a tiny bit from anything, so that nothing would be missed. He ate heartily, knowing that this would be the last decent meal he would have in a while. He washed the plate and fork and put them both back into the cabinet and decided on a walk outside. It was boring being the only person in number four; he reckoned that he had about two hours or so before they came back. He checked his back pocket, felt that his wand was still there and exited the Dursley's home.

He passed through the tunnel where he and Dudley had been attacked by Dementors and walked past it to the park. He sat down on the swing that Dudley and his gang still hadn't managed to break off and looked around. The park looked relatively the same and completely normal. Except…

Harry frowned at the fence that led to a small wood.(2) _'That wasn't there before.'_ The fence had a huge hole in it, as if something decided to take a bite out of it. He abandoned his swing, embraced the Gryffindor within and went to take a closer look. Even before he was twenty feet away, a metallic tang (3) invaded his nostrils and made him gag. Suddenly eating that dinner wasn't such a good idea. He managed not to throw up, but he began to debate whether or not he should continue walking forward or not. He would have debated no, if it was not for the magic that he felt pulsating around the area. It was not like anything he had ever felt before, almost like a different kind of magic: free and unconstrained.

Harry walked the remaining distance now struggling more than ever to not vomit where he was standing. When he got to the fence, he saw that it wasn't cut or crushed like he would have thought. It was burned straight through.

He reached out to touch the fence and drew his hand back hurriedly. On the edges, there was some kind of liquid that looked sticky and clear. Harry concluded that it looked almost like saliva and it was fresh, so whatever had done this was probably still around. He turned back again to examine the saliva drew back again with a startled yelp.

This time the saliva dripped and was burning a hole in the ground, sizzling as it went. _'Acidic spit?'_ Harry thought, horrified. _'That's definitely not normal, even for a wizard.'_

Now his mind was screaming at him to turn back and call someone for help, but he stayed rooted to the spot. The magic was stronger through the fence, this much he knew. Somehow, he had to find out what was causing it and stop it. His chest suddenly felt very light, as if there was something missing. He ignored this feeling.

He gathered up his courage and walked through the fence, careful to mind the saliva dipped edges and any falling drops. He saw nothing when he was on the other side and walked forward into the wood. Hesitantly, he took out his wand and held it steadily in front of him. He started to 

murmur _Lumos_ but thought better of it at the last second. Harry realized that the last thing he needed was anything to give away his position. So he walked blindly on, using the half full moon as a light source. It bathed everything in an eerie, waxy glow, and helped him find the lead he was looking for. Some of the trees had fresh holes in their mighty trunks, and were dripping with the same saliva from the fence. He walked on.

As Harry continued, his feet unconsciously began to follow a familiar path of dirt that be followed many years ago on a school trip to the wood. Harry had wandered off from the group and had taken this very same path, and it had led him to a clearing. The teacher had completely freaked out and gave Harry a weeks worth of detention. When Harry and Dudley had returned home that night, Harry had spent nearly a week in his cupboard with hardly any food, only to earn him another week of detention for the one he missed.

He snapped out of his musings when he realized that he was in the clearing. There was nothing there. Harry sighed, somehow he had expected more. It was when he started to turn around, however, that he realized that something was really, really wrong.

There was no sound.

There was nothing: no bugs, no sounds of scurrying feet on the grass, no wind that whispered to people and the trees. Nothing. It was as if someone had turned off any and all noise. The worst part was that Harry felt as though he was being watched… by something that he didn't want to meet.

He took a step forward and realized his mistake too late. His foot stepped on a twig and it snapped, making a horribly loud echo throughout the clearing. Right then, the awful metallic tang from the fence returned, overwhelming his senses. He staggered for a moment and realized that the creature that had made the hole had come back for a meal. A meal named Harry.

Author's Note: There is no dialogue. For the first two or three chapters, and possibly some random chapters after that, there will be no dialogue. There will be some soon, but right now, As Harry is the only person in the fic, words are kind of pointless and this doesn't include his thoughts. The Doctor comes in the next fic.

1) Its a bit corny, but it sort of works, and Harry's smart enough to figure it out on his own

2) I know that there is no wood near there, but it's AU, so go with me

3) The metallic tang is used to describe Free Magic, which Harry finds out about later.


	2. hullo there

An important Author's Note before you read. First, I don't own Harry Potter, Doctor Who, or Abhorsen. Secondly I realized that I never gave a time frame for when this story was supposed to be taken place. It takes place on the night when Harry was supposed to be taken by the Order, but instead he is whisked away by the Doctor, hope that didn't cause too much confusion. Also this takes place after the "Runaway Bride" but before Season 3 of Doctor Who. A last also is that, when Harry and Dudley are attacked, in the movie they where in a tunnel thing, but I'm not sure where they were in the book. Oh well.

It took Harry all of three seconds to realize two things. One: he was about to face an enemy he had probably never even heard of before, let alone fought. Two: he should probably start running. And that's what he did; he ran. He never even looked back to see _what_ was chasing him, but he could hear it. Its claws (or something like that) were scraping against the trees and ground. It sounded like it was taking impossibly long strides and that the few precious seconds that Harry had in front of it were saving his life.

As he ran, his feet once again took up the path that had brought him here in the first place. Somewhere in the rational part of his mind, he thought that it was ironic that the very same trek of land that had landed him into trouble was currently saving his life. He could laugh about it later.

The back of his mind tingled and somehow the message _'Duck!'_ implanted itself in his brain. He hit the ground hard and fast, landing on his back. He didn't see the creature, but he did see an ivory hook, seemingly glowing in the moonlight, swing right where his head had been literally seconds before. There was a loud _Thunk!_ as the claw struck the tree. He didn't stop to gawk; he picked himself up and ran on again. Behind Harry, the thing let out a horrible screech of frustration as it occupied itself by prying its hook out of the trunk. Harry had to struggle not to cover his ears.

Harry suddenly let out a cry, not of pain, but of horror. He now saw that when he fell and ran on again, he had veered off the path and was now running right for a fence with no hole in it. The fences around here had barbed wire around them, to prevent any hopefuls from destroying the wood. It didn't really work, but it would make getting back into the park a pain.

He put on a burst of speed and leapt at the fence clinging onto it about halfway up and began to desperately climb. He reached the wire and ignored it as it ripped through his skin and clothes. He jumped onto the over side when he was high enough and landed with an _Umph!_ It was now that he stood up, caught his breath and saw the creature running up to the fence.

Harry gasped as he looked at the creature, taking in its form. It was tall, taller than anyone he had ever seen before in his life. It also looked like a naked woman, but it moved almost fluidly. Its forearms were as long as it's legs and were bent backwards with great claws on the ends, like a praying mantis. When it opened its mouth, Harry saw double rows of teeth so dark that they made the night sky look pale. But it was none of these that really frightened Harry. It instead was the creature's eyes, eyes that had a silver fire in them, and they were the most terrible thing that Harry had ever seen. Had Harry known what this creature was, he would have known that it was called a Stilken, a horrible creature of Free Magic. (1) (A/N: For my own sake, I'll be calling it the Stilken, even though Harry doesn't know what it is yet)

The Stilken raised its arm and Harry realized that it was going to tear right through the fence. He now knew that this creature was not the one that had made the other hole in the fence. Not only because of its chosen way to mangle the fence even more, but because of the way it… _felt_. He was running again before the creature even moved another step forward to bring down the hook.

Harry found himself in the tunnel where he and Dudley had been attacked. He leaned against the wall and waited, catching his breath. He heard the creature prowl around the outside and Harry began to silently beg whoever was listening to help him. The Stilken came dangerously close to where Harry was hiding and he could practically see the thing smirk. _'No, this can't be how I die, after all I've put up with? This can't be the end.'_ He closed his eyes and waited.

He suddenly felt a hand on top of his and he opened up his eyes and did a double take. _Barty Crouch Jr._ Flipping _Barty Crouch Jr._ has holding his hand. The only difference was the hair. His hair was no longer blond, but brown. (2) And for some reason he was wearing a Muggle pinstriped suit. (A/N: Gee, wonder who that is) He looked at Harry and said the simple word, "Run."

Harry heard the shriek again and made his choice. Better killed by Voldemort than by some strange thing he had never seen before. He ran with Crouch.

Just as they started to run, the Stilken brought down its claws, taking chunks of the cement wall with it. It shrieked and proceeded to run after them. Neither looked back.

Crouch continued to hold Harry's hand (3) and drag him throughout Little Whinging, the Stilken chasing after them. "Hurry up!" Crouch was shouting at him now.

As Harry opened up his mouth to ask what was going on and where they where going, he saw a blue Muggle Police Box on the street corner. Crouch ran up to it, unlocked the door, and shoved Harry inside.

* * *

If Harry thought that he was confused before, he was in a real state now. The inside of the Police Box was huge. And he could see more rooms branching off through it. "What," he sputtered. He ran outside and saw that he was indeed in a Muggle Police Box. He then ran back inside and the first thing on his mind was _'Magic. That's the only explanation, magic. It wouldn't be the first __time I've seen something look bigger on the inside than on the outside.'_ Harry thought of the Quidditch World Cup when they had slept in those magically enlarged tents.

He looked at what looked like a weird control panel and saw that Crouch was flipping switches, pulling levers, and spinning a spinney thing.

Crouch paused in what he was doing, looked at Harry and said in a cheery voice with a smile, "Hullo there I'm The Doctor, and who might you be?"

Author's Notes: Yay! Dialogue! And the Doctor! Review!

1) The description that I used was adapted and mangled from the one that Garth Nix uses in _Lirael_ or _Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr_, depending on which one you know it by.

2) The book describes Crouch Jr's hair as being blond, though in the movie it is David Tennant's own brown hair. To distinct between Crouch and the Doctor, Crouch will be described as a blond.

3) No this is not a slash fic!


	3. The Suspisions of the Doctor

Author's Note: Firstly, I own nothing. Secondly the Doctor may be a bit OOC for the first few chapters that you see him in before I can get his character down. So please review to tell me if I'm getting any of his character right. Thanks!

Special Note to GenerallySpecific: Go right ahead. I personally believe that the best criticism is the harshest, so feel free to tear apart my work (please note that none of that was sarcastic).

Harry stared. After seeing the Doctor's look, he sputtered, "Ha- Harry Potter." Then he realized who he thought who he was talking to. "What do you mean who am I? You should know! You tried to kill me last year!"

The Doctor looked at him with an amused expression. "Really? That's odd because I've never seen you before in any of my lives. Are you sure it was me?"

Harry ignored the term 'any of my lives' and pulled out his wand, pointing it at the Doctor. He took a step back and said to him, "Who are you kidding with that Doctor stuff? You look too much like Barty Crouch Jr. to not be him!"

The Doctor though for a moment, "Crouch, Crouch, oh!" The Doctor beamed at him saying, "No, no, I know who you're talking about, but I'm not him, see?" He rolled up his left sleeve of his arm and showed Harry that it was bare. "No Dark Mark on me and besides," he continued while his grin expanded, "if I was Crouch, don't you think that I'd would have killed you by now, or let the Stilken get you?"

"How should I know?" Harry was beginning to get frustrated, but lowered his wand anyway; he wasn't sure if the Dark Mark could be hidden with a concealment charm, and from the Crouch he knew, the man would be wearing it with pride. Harry then realized something an important detail of the Doctor's words, "Wait, that thing is called a Stilken? What is that? And who are you really?"

The Doctor began to move around the control panel again, flipping switches as he went. "I told you, I'm The Doctor- hold this please." Harry, for some reason, went up and helped him. "That thing is called a Stilken a powerful Free Magic construct-""Sorry, but Free Magic?" "In a minute. Now where was I? Oh yes. The Stilken is a Free Magic construct of great power that can only be destroyed by a Free Magic Sorcerer more powerful than itself. However, it is possible to bind the Stilken." His voice became lower as he began to talk more to himself than to Harry, "Now what really gets me is why so many Free Magic creatures are showing up now. I've even heard of something that sounds like the work of a Necromancer…" The Doctor trailed off.

"So…" Harry started. He wanted to ask what Free Magic was, but his mouth instead blurted out, "What is this thing?"

"Well it's my TARDIS of course."

"Sorry a- what?"

"T-A-R-D-I-S. Stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space." The TARDIS began to make its trademark whirling sound, as if disappeared out of time and space to give the Stilken the slip. Harry, however had absolutely no idea what the sound meant and back away from the large control console.

"Wait space? What are you an alien or something?"

The Doctor's grin told Harry all he needed to know. "Merlin, an alien. So you're like a Martian?"

The Doctor looked at him in mocked outrage, "I am most certainly not a Martian!" He scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Even though they are actually one of the few aliens in the Universe who fit the small, gray alien image." He turned back to Harry and asked him in a pointed voice, "Now do I look like a small, gray alien to you? Hmm?"

"No- I guess not."

"Good, now then I'm afraid that I'm going to have to get back out there and get rid of the Stilken. I can drop you home while I'm at it."

As the ship began to make its sound again, a thought came to Harry as he put his wand in his back pocket, "Wait a second. Did you only come for the Stilken?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" He hit the panel with a hammer, causing sparks to fly. "Behave!" he shouted at the ship.

"Because when I was at the park earlier tonight, there was a hole in the fence. It looked like it was melted with spit or something. Anyway, when I saw the Stilken, I dunno, I just knew that it wasn't- it wasn't the same creature that made the hole. Like there are two things that are there."

The look that the Doctor gave Harry made him feel like a child that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a metal cylinder with a blue light on the end. "Sonic Screwdriver," he mumbled, seeing Harry's oblivious look. He pressed down on the button that was there, and it started making a comforting buzzing sound. He moved the Sonic Screwdriver up and down Harry's body, as if trying to X-ray him for something that couldn't be seen. After a few moments, he stopped and looked at it, scratching his head mumbling, "No, no. That can't be right. None of them have ever come to Earth before. How is it possible?"

He was snapped out of his musings as the TARDIS landed with a slight jolt. He went to the control panel and saw that they were exactly in the same place as they were before, with the exception that the Stilken was no longer there. "Ah, well then Mr. Potter, it seems as though we have a change of plans. The TARDIS believes that our purpose is to stay here and get rid of the Stilken, and since she has decided that I can't take you home, that you should come with me." (1)

"But I won't know how to fight a Stilken. I hardly know what it is!"

"Ah yes well, if my theory is correct then, there won't be any need to worry about that, so come along then." He walked to the door and opened it. They both stepped outside. The streets were dark and foreboding. As in the clearing, no sound was in the air. Everything was quiet once more.

The Doctor walked around in a circle, scratching his head again and mumbling under his breath. To Harry, he seemed to be having an inner debate with himself about whether or not including Harry in his plans was a wise idea. After a few moments, he stopped, looked right at Harry, and walked up to him, looking at him directly in the eyes. Harry now knew that this man was not Barty Crouch Jr. In looks perhaps, but Harry saw for a brief moment something that Crouch would never have in his eyes directed towards anyone other than perhaps Voldemort… concern.

"Now Harry, I want you to do something for me. I want to close your eyes. Don't give me that look, if I haven't killed you by now, then I'm not going to. Just listen to me. Eyes closed? Good. Now, you encountered the Stilken earlier, so I'll assume you know what it looks like and more importantly what it _feels_ like. I want you to picture the Stilken in your head and the magic that you felt coming off it. Focus, concentrate on that. Now once you've done that, try to find it. Use your magic to seek it out."

For some reason, Harry did all of this. He followed the Doctor's orders. He remembered everything about the Stilken, even the metallic tang returned to his mouth and he almost gagged. Then he reached out. Feeling, looking for a disturbance that he knew was there. In his mind he passed streets, homes, and other miscellaneous odds and ends present at night. His mind suddenly stopped at the wood, where for a fraction of a second, something moved out of his mind's eye and vanished once more. His eyes snapped open, "It's back in the wood." He paused and then asked, bewildered, "How did I do that?"

But the Doctor was distracted, "Later, the Stilken must be bound before it kills someone." And with that, he took off running.

"Doctor! Wait! Doctor!" Harry shook his head, "Unbelievable." And like many before him, Harry took off after the man who had crashed into his life and turned it into an unknown adventure.

Author's Notes:

1) Normally, the Doctor would try to get rid of whoever is dragged into the current mess, but as Harry is meant to stay, well, yeah…


	4. Of crystal bottles and swords

Author's Notes: Firstly and the most important, I do not own Harry Potter, Doctor Who, or any of Garth Nix's work.

Special Note:

**Isis the Sphinx**: Yes, you do have a point about the Doctor believing in magic at all, but I am going to write a chapter or two about his discovering magic and as to why he more or less believes it. Thanks for reviewing!

* * *

By the time Harry had caught up with the Doctor, the man was at the tunnel again, kneeling down with the sonic screwdriver buzzing away.

"What are you doing?"

"Measuring its power level, we won't be able to bind it unless we know how strong it is." The Doctor stood up and said, "This one's just awoken, so it's not that strong yet, as it hasn't had the chance to feed on anyone." He started to walk away.

"Wait, Doctor." Harry went to his side and asked, in a rather annoyed tone, "How are we supposed to bind it? I don't know anything about Free Magic, or the about the Stilken itself for that matter."

But the Doctor gave him a smile that border lined a knowing smirk, "Don't worry, you'll know what to do when the time comes, it's in your blood after all. Besides I'll be right there, incase I'm wrong, which I'm not, but it never hurts to be careful."

Harry looked at him disbelievingly. "Wait, you're just gunna let me go in there with absolutely no experience at all? I'm not even supposed to use magic and you want me to see if I can bind it?"

The Doctor looked at him amused, "Who says that you can't use magic?"

"Uh- The Ministry. If I use any more magic, I'll be expelled. I'm not even supposed to be outside right now."

"Well it's a bit late to go back in, especially now that the Stilken has your scent," he said, tackling Harry's second dilemma first. "And I'm not talking about Wizard Magic. I'm talking about Charter Magic."

Once again, Harry was confused, which seemed to happen a lot lately, as he had no idea that there where other kinds of magic, let alone one that he could apparently do. "What is Charter Magic?"

As they continued to walk towards the wood, the Doctor went into his explaining mode, "I'm really not the person to try and explain that to you, but I'll give you a small portion of it. Charter Magic is a sort of outgrowth of Free Magic. Whereas Free Magic has no real shape or form and can only be used by certain people and creatures, Charter Magic is used through Charter Marks that the user can use to create and weave a spell. It is seemingly endless, but in fact does have a beginning and an end. Each individual mark has its own name and is always used with another mark. Only the Master Marks can be used individually, but are backed by lesser marks, mostly for protection, to prevent the caster from killing themselves." He then remembered a small tidbit, "Really for you, the best part about Charter Magic is that it can't be detected by the Ministry, so it's dead useful."

Harry just nodded, unsure of what to say. As they neared the fence, he asked, "But how come I've never known about it before? Or why aren't there any schools to use it?"

"Because many years ago when the Charter was created, almost every planet had Free Magic. When the Seven- I'll explain that later- decided to make the Charter, they basically took Free Magic and tamed it. The result was both good and disastrous. Though the Charter was created, many Free Magic creatures were destroyed because they suddenly lost all of their power in one fell swoop. There's hardly a quarter of the Free Magic creatures there are today then there were all those years ago. Anyway, only one planet in the entire universe still retained the Charter and Free Magic in a balance, well more or less anyway. I'm guessing that you only have the ability to use Charter Magic because either you had an experience with Death and came back, or you're the descendent of someone who I really hope you're not the descendent of."

They reached the hole that the Stilken had torn through. Harry looked through the hole and asked in a voice that was much braver than he felt, "So how am I supposed to do this exactly?"

The Doctor thought for a moment and said, "Hmm… There aren't any dry wells around here are there?"

"Erm… Doctor, we're in the Suburbs."

The Doctor looked at him expectantly. Harry tried again, "There are no wells here, let alone dry ones."

The Doctor looked put-out, "Well you don't have to be mean about it." He started to dig through his coat pockets, "Since we can't trap it in a dry well, it'll have to be imprisoned in-, Aha!" He pulled out a bottle made of wrought crystal, "-this." He placed it into Harry's hand.

Harry looked at the bottle, both skeptical and nervous, "Umm… Doctor, I don't know any Charter Magic, how exactly am I supposed to do this with you standing by and not doing anything?"

The Doctor looked on knowingly, "The same way you found the Stilken; reach out with your magic and you'll know what to do."

"And you'll be where?"

"Advising you form the sidelines, it won't help you if someone else is doing the work now is it? Now go on."

Harry wanted to protest, but thought better of it. He just knew that he could do this, ignoring the fact that he had never done it before in his life.

Just as he stepped through the fence, the Doctor said suddenly, "Hold on a minute, I almost forgot." He reached into his coat and this time, he pulled out a sword. Unlike Gryffindor's sword, this one was slightly broader and Harry could practically feel the magic radiating off of it. The Doctor passed Harry the sword and the moment Harry touched it, he went into a sort of trance- like state. Placing the bottle in his pocket, he unsheathed the sword and twirled it around, testing its weight. He blinked and looked at the sword's blade.

All along the blade were Charter Marks, an endless sea of them, running along, showing spells for breaking and binding, for protection and destruction. Harry was unsure as to how he knew these spells, but the sword gave him a comfort that he had never felt before in his life. The Doctor looked on, wearing a sad smile.

"What?" He asked, though his tone was complete concern for the man next to him, none of it had anything to do with the fact that he had just manipulated a sword with the expertise of one who had been trained with a sword since birth.

"Nothing, nothing," he said waving off Harry's concern for him. "What does it say?"

"Huh?"

The Doctor gestured towards near the hilt of the blade, "There should be an inscription."

Sure enough there was, "The Clayr Saw me, the Wallmakers made me, my enemies tremble before me." He looked at it for another second before the letters changed, this time spelling the word, "Styrke." (1)

Harry frowned, "What does that mean?"

"It's a name," the Doctor said mildly, "I suppose you can say it means 'Strength.' Though it is quite ironic seeing as how most of its previous owners were complete Neanderthals who wouldn't know true strength even if it hit them right between the eyes." Harry just nodded, staring at the blade with fascination.

"Well," the Doctor said, "Off you go then, mind you be careful."

Harry nodded again and walked off, feeling almost as if he really could do this.

Once Harry was through and out of ear-shot, the Doctor whispered, "I'm sorry." It was not just for the lack of help, but for Harry's whole life.(2)

* * *

Author's Notes:

I do have the next chapter written, just some fine tuning needs to be added. The next chapter is where Harry actually fights the Stilken, and will probably be up by Monday, as this chapter is a bit boring. I'm sorry for the obvious taking of ideas from The Abhorsen books, but pretty soon, the adventures will be more original. For ideas, please review.

1) 'Styrke' is the Norwegian translation for the word 'Strength.' Also, I couldn't resist giving Harry a sword similar to Lirael's Nehima. The sword will probably play a larger role later on, but I'm not sure yet.

2) That line is taken from _Lirael_, though it is mangled. There is a reason for this.


	5. The Stilken

Authors Notes: Don't own any of these.

Thanks to those who review!

* * *

Harry stepped through the opening in the fence, never noticing that the Doctor didn't move at all. In fact, the Doctor knew that Harry would be able to handle this, so he stayed put, not wanting to interfere like he had done so many times before. This one time was different though, but Harry didn't know that, nor did he notice the lack of the Doctor's presence anyway.

He walked warily in the wood; his senses open as much as he could get them. His footsteps were light upon the springy grass, and his feet found a semblance of a path, not the same one that he took earlier, but a path all the same.

All around him was the corrosive stench that Harry knew identified a Free Magic creature. It was faint, but it was there, and it was everywhere, giving him no real direction to travel. It was at this moment that Harry realized that the creature was playing with him. It could see him, but he couldn't see it.

In his hand Styrke was angry: it too could sense the Free Magic and it wanted to destroy it. Harry stopped in the same clearing as before, knowing that this was where the Stilken's trap surely lied. He wanted to sigh in frustration, this was getting him nowhere. For lack of any better ideas, he took a gamble and reached out with his magic again. The instant he did, the Stilken moved.

It sung its great hook to him and he barley managed to block it. When the sword and creature met, there was a shower of sparks that burned through Harry's clothes, peppering it with tiny holes. His muscles contracted and ached from their sudden and different use. They begged him for release. Harry gasped from the sudden pain and pulled Styrke free from the creatures arm. Any and all knowledge of swordplay had left Harry's mind.

As the Stilken continued on the offensive, striking blow after blow, there was no longer any form to Harry's moves, just the simple survival instinct to not let the pincers hit him at any and all cost. His muscles continued to burn as he evaded the onslaught of the Stilken, and he found a little moment to wonder how much more he could take.

Harry felt his back his against a tree and found that he was cornered. The Stilken also saw this, and let out a cry of triumph, and it then sung it's right hook down. Instinct kicked in again, and Harry dodged to the left, only to get his foot caught in a tree root that sent him to the ground. It couldn't have worked more in his favor than if he had planned it.

The Stilken had also seen that he was going to dodge to the left and had angled it's hook. However, when Harry's foot had been caught, he had been veered greatly off course and the hook missed him entirely. Instead it burrowed itself deep into the thickest part of the tree, trapping it there, preventing escape for the Stilken.

Harry realized that this would be his last and possibly only chance to bind the Stilken. As per the Doctor's instructions, he reached into his magic and was thrown into the sea of Charter Marks. Styrke took care of the rest. It helped him pick and chose the marks that he would need. It told him their names and why he would need them, and more importantly, how to use them.

It helped him weave lesser spells to protect himself from the Master Marks, and helped him create the spells for unraveling, breaking, and binding.

Meanwhile, the Stilken managed to free itself from the tree's ensnarement, and was prepared to attack him once again. However, Harry was prepared. When the Stilken was ready to bring down its mighty hook, Harry stabbed in its abdomen, causing more sparks to fly from it.

With the help of Styrke, Harry called forth the first master mark and it traveled down the blade of the sword, making it shine brightly. The mark paralyzed the creature and weakened it so that it could be taken by the next set of spells.

Harry then called the second master mark, and it too traveled down the blade. The skin of the Stilken began to crack and break, until it basically fell off. The Stilken was now a column of brilliant white light, held only in place by Styrke.

The third master mark left the sword and the Stilken began to shrink until it was about the size of a snitch. Harry took the crystal wrought bottle out of his pocket and placed it on the ground. With the help of his sword, Harry placed what was left of the Stilken into the bottle. Finally, in one swift movement, he drew back Styrke, thrust the cork into the bottle and called forth the fourth and final master mark. Light engulfed the bottle and cork, sealing it with the Charter. The bottle jiggled a bit, but then remained still.

Harry dropped Styrke on the ground and he sat down, completely drained. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bluish gray glint. It took him a second to realize that it was a statuette, and he was holding his sword in a defensive position. He put the sword back in its sheath, stood up, ignored his aching muscles, and walked with a slight limp over to it. It appeared that his fall had sprained his ankle slightly.

He walked to the statuette and found that it was the shape of a fairly hard- bitten sort of dog, with pointy ears and a sharp snout. But it also had a friendly grin and the suggestion of a tongue in the corner of its mouth. It was made out of soapstone and was rather pleasant to touch. (1) The dog reminded him a bit of Sirius, though only in expression.

He picked up the bottle and placed both it and the dog statuette in his pocket. He gathered up Styrke, and walked back to the park, suddenly realizing that he had done it. He had bound the Stilken, albeit with a lot of help from Styrke. He absently wondered where the Doctor had gone off to. As he started to muse about that, a rustling of leaves caught his attention and once again, before he knew it, he had Styrke out of its scabbard and in a defensive position, though slightly off balance thanks to his ankle.

"Whoa there!" The voice of the Doctor came from the trees, "It's just me." The Doctor emerged from the bushes and looked at Harry, "So, how did it go?"

Harry smiled and reached into his pocket to show him the bottle where the Stilken was trapped. His smile turned into a frown as he asked, annoyed, "Where were you then? What happened to, 'I'll be advising from the sidelines?'"

The Doctor looked at him clueless for a second, before finally remembering, "Oh right. Remember when you said that there were two creatures here. Well, while you were fantastically handling the Stilken, I went off to find where our other friend went off to. Couldn't find him, but he'll turn up eventually. I'll just have to put up an alert in the TARDIS to warn me when he decides to come out." His face turned into an embarrassed grin as he added, "Besides, I really don't know how to bind a Stilken. I managed to trick the last one into a dry well before sealing it up."

Harry looked at him with an incredulous look on his face, "Wait, so if I couldn't have done it, and you were there, you wouldn't have been able to help me anyway? What's the point of that?"

"The point of that, is to prove something, which you did, now I just have to find out what it means."

"So what, am I an experiment or something to you?"

A look of anger appeared on the Doctor's face, "No, that's not true and you know it. You handled the Stilken because you were the only one who could handle it. Not because of some experiment or whatever you might think." His expression softened as he said, "Look, what you did tonight proves something, something that I wish wasn't true. There is a chance that it may still not be true, but there's only one way to find out for sure. To find that out, you're just going to have to come with me."

Harry looked wary, "Go with you, like into space and stuff."

The Doctor smiled, "Time too. You forget what TARDIS stands for: **Time** And Relative Dimensions In Space."

Harry asked, "What if you're theory, or whatever it is, is wrong, do you just dump me back home?"

"Well, since you helped me out and saved me a lot of trouble, thanks so much for that by the way, I suppose that one extra trip won't hurt."

"And if you're right."

The sad look returned to the Doctor's face, "That will be left for the right time. Now then if you'll follow me. Oh don't worry about your ankle," he said when he saw Harry walk, "There's a medical center aboard the TARDIS." (2)

For a second, Harry considered telling the Doctor about the dog statuette, but decided against it. It was his little secret, though the Doctor probably already knew about anyway, but Harry would tell him when he knew the time was right.

They walked back to the TARDIS, and once inside, the Doctor began to start her up. He flipped switches, spun some things, and hit other things with a hammer, and the ship began to made it's whirling noise as it vanished from both England and Earth.

* * *

1) The fight scene between Harry and the Stilken was adapted and mangled form Lirael's fight scene in _Lirael_. However, the description of the dog statuette is identical, and I do not own it. Remember the statuette, it plays an important role, and for those of you who have read, Garth Nix's Abhorsen Trilogy, which I don't own either, you know who it is.

2) Does anyone know what the medical center looks like? I know he has one.

3) I would like to point out, that Styrke pretty much did all the work, and the Stilken was still weak, so Harry isn't really in tune with his Charter Magic yet. He will be, but just not yet.


	6. The Records

Note: I own nothing! The things that I do reference, I don't own either! What's made up is mine though.

* * *

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Harry where put at the mercy of one of the ships many sessions of Throw- The- Doctor- And- Whoever- His- Companion- Is- Around- Until- They- Are- Severely- Bruised- Or- Unconscious- Or- Both. This particular session had been going on for 30minutes. Harry was getting more injuries there than he was fighting the Stilken, though with the medical care aboard the TARDIS, there was no doubt in Harry's mind that any injury could easily be fixed… his ankle was, after all, good as new.

He had also found the Wardrobe Room, as his clothes were beyond repair. It was filled with clothes from every century imaginable, though in no real order. Harry now donned someone's jeans and red shirt with an ACDC logo on it. (A/N: Don't own ACDC, it was the first thing that I could think of, and do they come in red?).

"Are your trips always like this?" Harry asked, as he was thrown violently across the room, landing on his side and narrowly avoiding hitting his head.

"Sometimes, but that's only when she's being temperamental. It's the presence of Free Magic that makes her like this; she can't really understand it, and it's worse that she can't do anything about it." He said this while grabbing on to the railing and flipping switches.

Harry looked at the Doctor and asked, "You make it sound like she's alive or something."

The Doctor looked at him with a rather annoyed and amused expression, "Who says she's not? Look at you wizards and your wands. You treat them like gods amongst men. They're sticks of wood, and you say that the TARDIS isn't alive."

In an attempt to not start a confrontation with the Doctor, and not wanting to admit that he had a point, Harry just said, "All right, all right." Then with mirth, he added, "She certainly acts like a woman in any case." As if in response to Harry's comment, the TARDIS gave a rather violent lurch, sprawling him on his back across the room. Strangely enough, the Doctor remained firmly on his feet, amusement clear in his eyes and a lopsided grin on his face.

"Then you should also know 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' You'll survive longer in the world the sooner you've learned that. Trust me, I know." There was one final jerk in the ship and then all was still.

"Where are we going again?" Harry's voice was slightly loud and very annoyed.

The Doctor was ignoring him slightly as he said to the TARDIS, "That's it, almost there. Keep it steady now." To Harry, he said, "To a place called "The Records" on a planet once known as Seafa." (1)

"Once known as…?"

"Where going there in the far future, when the Seafans had all died out. It just avoids questions that way," the Doctor informed Harry. He continued, "It's also because they were extremely private and bad tempered but they were also meticulous record keepers. They traveled the Universe, sending probes and keeping censuses on each planet known at the time before their death. They also kept genealogy records. Rather rude in some cases, I can't tell you how many times they've been brought before a court." He paused for a moment, considering something, then continued, "They may have died out, but their probes still exist and function. Your family tree should be there; hopefully you won't be related to the person I think you're related to."

Harry wanted to open his mouth and ask as to why he wouldn't want to be related to someone- after all, anyone was better than the Dursleys… right? But Harry had asked, many times, but the answer was always the same, "When we know for sure," …which answered absolutely nothing.

The whirling sound started up again. "Ah ha!" The Doctor who had been on the other side of the consol, move to Harry's side and, with a triumphant smile said, "We're here."

He went to the door of the ship and leaned on it, with his hand on the latch. "Before we go out, I would like to point out that you are the first human to ever set foot on this planet. Whether or not that means anything to you is entirely your business, but just throwing that out there." He stepped back, opened the door and let Harry out first.

If the Doctor had been looking for an effect, he received one. Harry simply took one step outside and stared at the world before him. It was very rocky, no there was vegetation in sight. Broken boulders and jagged rocks were everywhere. There was an offshoot of huge mountains in the background, casting eerie shadows across the land. In the distance he thought he could see a very large crater. Even the span he saw was the size of hundreds of Quiddich Pitches, and he couldn't even see the other side. There was no telling how deep it was either.

When his eyes traveled to the sky, he gasped. There was one sun dipping below the horizon line, making the sky illuminate from piercing white, to golden yellow, to blood and ruby red. But this color soon blended flawlessly with that of the moonlit sky. The golden- red sky went from its red to a light periwinkle, to deep blue and amethyst, and eventually became a pure black, with tiny stars littering the sky. There were clouds scattered in the sky, thin wisps of things, but proof of a livable atmosphere. It was surprisingly warm too, as the day was ending and night made its entrance.

The Doctor walked up behind him and spoke, signaling the end of Harry's gazing session, "Well, we're a bit off course, so we've got a bit of a walk ahead of us." Harry nodded dumbly and the Doctor said in an understanding tone, "I know beautiful isn't it? There's this desert planet called Tatooine: twin suns, virtually no water at all; really horrible place. But the sun sets and rises, definitely worth it." (2)

"Wow," Harry breathed. "So we're really on another world? That's just…"

The Doctor just smiled and motioned to Harry that they should start walking.

It was slow going as the ground was extremely uneven. There were many rocks that looked set in but were loose. Some rocks couldn't be seen as the shadows from the mountains made them impossible to see. More than once Harry slipped, skinning his knees, elbows, and hands numerous times. Strangely enough, the Doctor remained on his feet, walking almost as if the ground was even, though even he had some trouble. Though that didn't mean that he didn't try to help Harry: without the Doctor, Harry would have fallen numerous more times. Finally, after a half hours hard walking, they saw a building that had also been shrouded by the shadows of the mountain.

It was a gothic-like cathedral. Stained glass windows that must have once been magnificent were either broken or covered with thick layers of dust. Great columns etched in incredible detail, written with a language Harry had never seen before, stood around the entrance at the top of some stairs. Everything had great cracks in them that ruined the images that had once been there.

When they ascended the steps, they saw that the inside was in stark contrast to the outside. Despite the obvious damage to the outside, there was little disturbance inside. Whatever had ravaged the world outside had either missed this place, or it had been too well protected for anyone or thing to penetrate it. Regardless of a few cracks here and there, the only real deformities were the windows that had shattered. Though, everything had a layer of dust on it.

The floor was covered with rows upon rows of tall machines with blinking lights. They weren't that tall though, only a foot or two higher than the Doctor. Harry looked up towards the ceiling, only to find that there was none, at least one that he could see. The walls seemed to stretch into nothing, a pure black that made Harry go cold was there instead of more stone that made up the walls. And speaking of the walls-

Harry frowned as he saw that the walls were not more machines, but instead bookshelves, filled to the brim with books. These had gathered the most dust, and the shelves were twice as high as the TARDIS. There were ladders scattered around everywhere. On top of the shelves, were built in lights that cast soft shadows and provided sufficient light.

"Ah yes, we're in the right place," the Doctor said, examining the nearest machine with the sonic screwdriver. "And about a thousand years, give or take, after they've all died out." He then said to Harry, "You know, to make sure that no one is lurking about anywhere. The security systems have all been shutdown or destroyed for about five hundred years or so." His voice was solemn as he said, "We won't be disturbed here."

Harry walked up to a machine and just looked at it. He asked in a quiet voice that echoed, "What happened to everyone?"

The Doctor thought for a moment and finally said, "Oh famine, disease, war… any of those really. Think it was most likely war first, judging by that crater outside, and then the rest of them. The last time I was here, when I was much younger mind you, it was a thriving metropolis, though very hustle and bustle…" He thought for a moment, trying to describe it the best way possible for Harry, "Think New York City and London combined at the holiday season, and multiply that by twenty." Harry chuckled at the Doctor's statement.

Harry looked around and when he saw the blinking lights, he frowned asking, "I thought you said that there's no power here, so how are these lights working?"

"Well I didn't say that all the power is gone. I said that the security systems weren't working. Remember those probes I told you about?" Harry nodded. "They still function and report, that takes energy as well. So when they report back here, they also send power with their findings and keep everything in here alive."

"So they don't realize that the Seafans have all died out. They just exist bringing back information to no one?"

The Doctor responded sadly, "They have no higher programming. They only thing that they are aware of is that they send a bit more power each time. Eventually, they'll become obsolete and vanish from history as well." Harry nodded again, feeling even colder from the lack of life that should still be there.

"Well," the Doctor said, giving his surroundings one more glance, "Let's find where they keep the census for Earth."

* * *

They spent about three hours looking for the machine that related to Earth and for another planet called Ancelstierre,(3) even with the help of the sonic screwdriver. The Seafans, they discovered, organized their records in such a way that they would only know where everything was: it was almost impossible for any outsiders to find anything that they wanted. When they did find the right machine, they found a nasty surprise, and discovered what the books were for. The machines simply told you where to look… the books actually told you what you needed to know. Harry was to find the one of Earth and the Doctor wanted to find the one that related to Ancelstierre.

"I'll never know why such a technologically advanced planet would go along with something as annoying and close to the dewy-decimal system, and even that's been messed with," the Doctor said, as he looked at the thickly dust covered spine of a planet called Èarjook.(4) "I think this one belongs where you are."

"And this one you," Harry responded holding up a book with the title Aüchesto.(5)

"Have to admit though," Harry continued, halfway up one of the ladders that were working, his arm looped around it and another book in hand, "at least they were organized, mostly anyway. And really- who would spend all this time here anyway before either going insane or giving up?"

"Your point is taken."

"Thought so," Harry responded as he carefully put back the book and picked up the equally faded one next. Like many he had found, this one had no title that was the planet it represented. When he opened it however… there were names _Frederick William I_ and a line drawn from him to _Sophia Dorothea of Hanover_ and a line from them to a bunch of children, to grandchildren, great grandchildren… (6)

"Hey I found the one on Earth!" Harry carefully tucked the book under his arm and climbed down the ladder, and walked excitedly to where the Doctor was about fifteen feet away.

"And I," the Doctor began pulling another book out and blowing the dust off it, "have found the one for Ancelstierre." Because of lack of tables, the Doctor just plopped onto the floor, and began to flip through the pages of it, the sonic screwdriver buzzing away. He went to the middle of the book and beamed. "Oh, good ol' Seafans," he looked at Harry earnestly, "they've used voice activated books to find out who you want to look for. And- oh yes! Psychic Paper! (7) Just need the password…" He flicked the sonic screwdriver to a different setting. After a minute, he beamed again in triumph, "There we are, hand me yours-" He did the same for the book on Earth.

Harry saw now that the pages were blank, "Wait- there was Fred- something or other on that page a minute ago."

The Doctor explained in an exited tone, "They've use what's called Psychic Paper, it will take hours if I go into detail, but it pretty much shows people what you want to see." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin looking book, "See?" On the paper it said: "Police Inspector John Smith" and after a moment it changed to "The Doctor, resident Doctor for alien anomalies." He stated in a matter-of-fact voice, "You probably thought of a historical name that you recognized, and it showed the family tree for that person."

"That's probably the most useful thing I have ever seen," Harry said grinning.

"Ingenious really, they could never fit everyone's family tree into one book, so they put a central processor into the spine. Just ask for whoever's family tree and there you have it, with a password to activate it of course." He handed the book back to Harry, saying, "There just say your name and it'll find your family tree."

Harry did so, saying clearly, "Harry Potter."

The result was instantaneous, the name _Harry Potter_ appeared and his name was branched off to his parents, cousins, grandparents, and going all the way back to, _Godric Gryffindor_. "No way, I'm related to Godric Gryffindor? Does explain a lot though…" He looked up and asked the Doctor, "Now what?"

"Hand on and… there's the name!" He looked at Harry and said, "Look for the name Caedrial,(8) not really sure where he is, but just look."

Harry spent about twenty minutes looking for the name. He found it next to one of his great somewhat grandmothers on his father's side. "Here it is. _Caedrial_ and _Isabella_ who had a child called _Caleb_." (9)

The Doctor leaned back and his head hit the book shelf, and he closed his eyes, whispering, "No, no, no..."

"What is it?" Harry asked, confused. He didn't understand why Caedrial was so important in all of this.

"Harry." The Doctor sat up and looked at Harry, who had also sat down at some point. His voice was grave, and he looked like he would rather be anywhere but there, "Tell me… what do you know about a person called the Abhorsen?"

* * *

Author's Notes: Slight cliffhanger, yay me! Long chapter too, nearly 3,000 words. Review!

1) I made up everything that has to do with Seafa and the Seafans

2) I don't own Tatooine or anything that has to do with Star Wars, George Lucas does. I just couldn't resist. I mean really, have you seen the sunsets in Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope? Absolutely beautiful.

3) What I'll be doing with Ancelstierre, is I'm going to make it a planet all on its own and have the Wall go through the entire planet, so half of it's the Old Kingdom and the other half will just be called Ancelstierre. It's just more convenient than anything else.

4 & 5) Èarjook and Aüchesto are just names I made up for planets.

6) Frederick William I and his wife were real people. Frederick ruled Prussia from 1713 – 1740. He is best known as "The Soldier King."

7) Is Psychic Paper just Time Lord Technology, or is it universal, cause in this fic, it is!

8 & 9) Caedrial,Isabella, and Caleb are just ancestors that I made up.


	7. Abhorsen

Author's Notes: I own nothing in this chapter! Enjoy.

* * *

Abhorsen… Harry had never heard of such a word, but for some reason, it sounded right. The Doctor looked at him, and after a moment, took his silence as a "no." Though it was unnecessary as Harry shook his head a moment later.

"An Abhorsen is…" Words failed the Doctor: he did not know how to explain something like this to Harry. To be honest, this talk was never supposed to happen. In all cases, Harry should have died, like he did all those years ago. But something, or, quite possibly and much to the Doctor's chagrin, a certain dog, had brought him back for the unknown future, which had in turn awoken his Charter Magic and Abhorsen bloodline. So it now fell to the Doctor to tell Harry about a legacy that he should have never known or would have to deal with, which was the case now.

The Doctor took a deep breath, and tried again, "An Abhorsen is…" He paused again- he _really_ shouldn't be giving him this talk. Then again, it wasn't as bad as trying to explain Time Lord reproduction to Susan.

Harry looked at the Doctor expectantly as he wondered what could possibly be making the Doctor fumble for words like this. "Yes… an Abhorsen is what- ?"

The Doctor tried a different approach, "You see… umm… When a person dies, their spirit, as it's called, goes into this realm called Death, which is supposed to be pretty much a big gray river." The Doctor's face had scrunched up and his hands moved as if in the hope to make things more clear in his feeble attempt to explain Death to Harry. "Though scientifically speaking a person's energy just releases and dissipates into nothing, though sometimes it can manifest itself into something and sort of create spectral beings which-"

"Doctor!" Harry shouted at him, overwhelmed by the sudden lecture, "You're rambling."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I've just never had to explain something like this before. It's kind of like, when you die, you don't really die, well, yet anyway. You sort of go into this place where you exist spiritually, it's called Death. If you manage to get back, you're not even really alive. You're a walking corpse with a mutilated spirit." His voice became quiet, "You exist but you don't." Suddenly cheerful again, he asked, "Follow?"

Harry responded, though very uncertainly, "I think so… What does an Abhorsen have to do with this?"

The Doctor's face suddenly brightened as he thought of a way to explain this to Harry, "You've heard of Necromancy, right?" Harry nodded.

"Yeah, but it's illegal… Really illegal."

"Well yes, but you know about the whole raise the dead thing right?" Harry nodded again, "So an Abhorsen is like a Necromancer, well technically they are Necromancers, but instead of raising the Dead, they keep the Dead down."

"Keep the Dead… down?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Harry nodded slowly, unsure of what to do, when a thought came to him, "Wait, explain to me again as to how you know I'm this Abhorsen thing?"

"Oh, right," the Doctor said, sounding a bit putout with himself, "I suppose I should explain this little trip."

"That would help."

"Well, the whole reason we're here at all, is to see if you were related to Caedrial. You see," he said turning towards Harry from his spot on the floor, "Caedrial was the only Abhorsen to ever leave Ancelstierre. Completely by accident of course, it was a bit of magic gone awry. Anyway, when he came here, he realized that there would be no way for him to get back, so eventually, in his depression, he met your ancestor, and well… you can kind of guess what happened that particular night." The last part was added a bit cheekily, and Harry made a face of disgust. "Well, as you know, the Potters were pureblood wizards, so the wizard magic was dominant, and it remained so, until you that is."

Harry slid down the wall, ignoring the edges of the book shelves as the painfully dug into his back. He felt as though he was 11 again and discovered that magic was real. He felt confused and afraid and so… vulnerable. "So… what does this mean? What happens now?"

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair and said, "I can't take you back to Earth. Now that you've used Charter Magic, any other Free Magic or Dead creature on Earth will know that a Charter Mage exists, and an Abhorsen at that, they'll be coming. They'll be scared. They'll be dangerous."

* * *

The walk back to the TARDIS was quiet. Harry was still processing the information about his heritage and the Doctor looked indifferent, though a select few would know that the Time Lord's thoughts were raging a million miles a minute. His thoughts traveled back to Rose as he wondered if he was up to having another traveling companion. Rose would take Harry in and sternly tell him that Harry needed to stay with them and that they'd help no matter what.

They reached the TARDIS and they walked inside. Harry closed the door and leaned against it, unsure of what to do. Everything felt so surreal and improbable, yet completely possible. He asked, in a low tone, "So where do we go from here?"

The Doctor, who had already began to start up the TARDIS, said, "It's completely up to you of course, no one's going to force you to do this, as no one really knows you exist, so, yeah, it's up to you."

Harry walked to the consul and gently ran his fingers over the controls, lost in thought. After a few moments he asked while staring intently at the controls, his voice still quiet, "I don't know how to explain it, I just can't, but I just know that I'm supposed to do this. Like there's apart of me that knows its right." He looked at the Doctor and asked, "That made no sense at all did it?"

But the Doctor smiled, "It made more sense than you could ever imagine, and for what it's worth, I am sorry. This is a difficult path for anyone, especially for someone as young as yourself; you know that to don't you?"

Harry nodded, thinking about how Styrke felt right in his hands, like he was _meant_ to wield it. He didn't know how it was right, but it was, and he would see it through.

"Well now that that's decided, I suppose that I should tell you that a Dead creature has awoken, it's weak, but still able to cause trouble. Up for it?"

Harry seemed to consider the proposition, and he couldn't help but feel that something was missing from the picture. He let a weak smile appear on his face and he said, "Sure."

"Good, now you'll want to take a short trip to the library, down a corridor, make two lefts, a right, another left and you're there."

After seeing Harry's questioning glance he said, "Well you'll want to read up on Charter Magic if you want to fight them, don't worry the TARDIS will help you find where everything is."

Harry, began to walk down the hall, and looked back once, only to see the Doctor make a shooing motion with his hands.

* * *

Author's Notes: To those who read these: sorry I didn't update last week, and if this chapter seems a little sketchy like. The damn SAT's (don't own!) are over, until the June ones, damn it! Anyway, Harry's first real adventure with the Doctor is going to begin next chapter, and really, so does the plot. These last seven chapters have been building up to it. Review!


	8. The Not So Merry Men

Author's Notes: I own nothing

* * *

The TARDIS rematerialized in between two trees, a fit that was a bit snug, but somewhere all the same. The Doctor opened up the TARDIS door to find that they were in a thick wood with no town to be found. He stepped out and examined the TARDIS and said, "Oh bugger." The TARDIS, despite to seemingly have been snugly put between the two afore mentioned trees, was actually wedged.

His companion Harry, who had heard the Doctor's statement, came out, sword in hand, and asked, "What?" Having spent about virtually the last week in the library learning Charter Magic, as the Dead creature kept disappearing off the radar, thus making it almost impossibly to pinpoint it, Harry had grown a bit… restless. Though being in close (though not really that close) quarters had been helpful since he learned some of the Doctor's moods and had participated in more than his fare share of bickering. When he saw that nothing was attacking them, he sheathed Styrke and looked at the Doctor.

The Doctor examined the TARDIS and trees for a moment longer and said, "She's wedged herself in, no idea how she managed that, but I can assure you that this isn't the first time she's landed in an awkward position. It won't damage her; it will just be a pain to get her out of it." He paused for a moment and remembered why they were there, "So, instead of a Stilken, there's probably just a Shadow or Dead Hand lurking about. Nothing too big for you're first Dead creature, but all the same…" He trailed off thinking.

"Umm- Doctor." Harry started, after looking around, "Where and when exactly are we?"

"Hu? Oh right!" He beamed and spun around, spreading his arms out as he did, "Mister Potter I would like to welcome you to Sherwood Forest of England, 1456."

"Sherwood, you mean like Robin Hood?"

"No, no. Robin Hood is a fictional character that was based on real people and folklore: though many speculate that he may have lived around this time. The fact that our Dead creature is here is nothing more then coincidence." He looked around, and started to walk in a random direction saying, "Off we go then."

As they walked, Harry took in their surroundings. The forest was thick and dark. It was hot and humid, indicating that it must be at least summer. The air was thick and muggy, making it seem hard to breath. Beams of sunlight broke through the trees and cast deceptive shadows everywhere he looked. Every once in a while, a few critters would be seen, and they would stop their everyday happenings to stare at the strangers who obviously didn't belong. It was peaceful, but it was freaky as Harry couldn't sense anything: no Dead, Free Magic, or any kind of well, anything. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and everything was off.

When he spoke, his voice was quiet, "Is it just me, or is there something strange about this wood?"

The Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver and activated it. After a moment, he looked at the reading and said, "Strange indeed."

When he didn't elaborate, Harry dropped it and asked a different question, "Are we going anywhere in particular? Any old friends somewhere?"

The Doctor shook his head sadly, "No, last time I was here was over 100years ago. Besides, I was a different man then; no one would recognize me anyway."

"Oh sorry." A sudden thought came to him, "What do you mean by different?"

"Well I suppose you're going to find out sooner or later, may as well be when things are calm." He started again in an explanatory tone, "I'm what's called a Time Lord: the only species of aliens that has the ability to travel through and manipulate time through technology far greater than anything before it. We are really Gallifreyans from the planet Gallifrey, as not all of us are Time Lords. We are more sort of guardians, always watching and observing, never interfering, unless necessary. We see what is, what was, everything that could ever be, and what should be. It's more of a curse than anything else really." His voice had taken on a nostalgic tone, and Harry felt that the Doctor had let on more then he wanted, as he continued with an infinite voice of sadness and regret, "But it's all gone now: destroyed in the Last Great Time War." (1)

Harry wanted to ask what the Doctor meant by, "Last Great Time War," but he didn't, he understood when something should remain private. "Wait, Wizards have Time Turners. Isn't that the same thing?"

"In an abstract sense, yes. However, it is very different. Time Lords have the ability built into them, and the jumps through time don't affect us. We don't age. Humans would age just like they would, but faster, as the stress it puts on their body is immense. But you don't have to worry about that. The technology that Wizards use is very mundane and just takes advantage of dimensional shifts by actually causing one. Nothing big, of course. They always seal up right away. Since you are using Time Lord technology, the stress isn't there because its actual purpose is to withstand the stress of the jumps, so any stress just doesn't exist. You still age, but not dramatically."

"Anyway, the reason why I have a different face is because Time Lords have the ability to sort of cheat death by regeneration. We don't actually die, but when a normal person would die, our cells rearrange and we take on a new face, body, gender in some cases, personality, and teeth. I never did like having new teeth…" (2)

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to the Doctor's short lecture on Time Lords. True it felt nice that the man felt sure enough with Harry to let his guard down, if only for a little bit.

They walked for about another ten minutes, and the trees slowly became thinner and they came across a road. It was more like a track of dirt that had wheels imbedded into it and hoof prints scattered all around, but it was a road all the same.

The Doctor turned to Harry and said, with urgency in his voice, "Do you sense anything?" Harry shook his head "no." "Good, now listen, anything we do here can mess up the future as we know it. So don't reveal anything about the future. If you do, do as much damage control as you can without screwing things even more up. Understand?"

"You've done this before haven't you?"

"Many times, and everyone screws- up once: just don't do it over something stupid."

Before Harry could make a retort, they heard horses up the road (or down it, depending on how you looked at it). They then saw a rather poor looking man running down (or up) the road with a gaggle of men in official armor on horses and brandishing swords and bows with quivers behind him. They were jeering after the man, and teasing him by hardly putting any effort in a purist, yet still being barely feet behind him. "Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?" The Doctor rhetorically asked Harry. (3)

Before Harry could think, the Doctor ran off on the road towards the man, with Harry close behind him. They caught up with the man, who they saw had blood and mud stains on his head. He was brown hair and eyes, and though he was thin, probably from starvation, he clearly had muscle. His clothes were simple, but they were torn as well. When they reached each other, the man clung to the Doctor and said, "Please, you have to help me-"

"Hey! You there!"

The one who spoke, the leader of the afore mentioned gaggle of men, looked at the man with a murderous grin, and then glared at the Doctor and Harry. "Who do you think you are?" (A/N: I will not even attempt an accent)

"Well I know how I think I am," the Doctor replied, "But I don't know who you think you are. What are you doing chasing- umm- sorry what's your name?" He turned to the man who had detached himself from the Doctor.

"Albert," he replied.

"Albert? Really, I've never known any Alberts, especially from around here, you sure that's your name?"

Before the apparent Albert could answer, Harry hissed, "Doctor, what about not screwing up?"

"Well-"

"Oh, so it only applies to anyone else that isn't you?"

"You see-"

But once again Harry didn't let him finish and he put his hand on his hips, and despite his looks, anyone who had known her might have mistaken him for Lily at that moment, "So you're either one of the biggest hypocrites I've ever met, or you're an idiot."

"Well, if you don't constitute helping this man as a good reason to break the rules…"

They continued to bicker back and forth, Albert and the guards following them with their heads like they would a tennis match. Finally the armed guard that had shouted at them before had, had enough and said, "Oi!"

The Doctor and Harry stopped and looked at the man, simultaneously saying, "What?"

"Look, I don't care as to who you are, but that man has broken the law. And as the law enforcement, it is our job to make sure that he is properly dealt with."

Harry said, "You call chasing him when he's clearly injured with swords a proper way to deal with him?"

"Uh… yes?"

"Then you're the idiot, not him." He said this while pointing from the Doctor to the man.

Unfortunately for Harry, this got the man rather mad, "Listen here you little whelp! You see this symbol,-" he jumped off of his horse, walked right up to Harry and pointed to a silver star that neither of them had noticed before- "this means that I can do whatever I want! So get lost or face the consequences."

Now the Doctor decided to intervene in Harry's unwise fight. "Look we're just travelers who don't want any trouble, right Harry?" His tone was all steel.

Harry huffed, "Fine."

"Hey!" Silver Star Man said, "I'm not done with you yet!" He unsheathed his sword and made to bring it down on Harry, and before he could even touch Styrke, an arrow whizzed out from the trees and ricochet off the sword, making him drop it to the ground.

"What the-?"

It was then that all hell broke loose.

Nearly fifty men dressed in hunting leathers carrying swords and bows and arrows emerged from the trees. A voice that belonged to an unseen leader shouted, "Forward!"

In an instant, one of the guards blew a horn, calling for backup. In the same instant most of the men were either captured or killed. In the next instant the men who had tried to kill Harry was dead. In an instant later, the backup had arrived. In the fourth instance, the Doctor and Harry were separated from each other: lost in the throng of people, fighting to get back to each other, desperate to not get lost in the confusion.

Harry shouted, "Doctor!"

"Harry!" The Doctor replied, his face carrying a frustrated expression as they were both being pushed by unseen faces. The Doctor's face turned to horror, as he saw a cloaked figure seize Harry around his midsection, hauling him away from the battle. "HARRY!"

Meanwhile, Harry was shouting, "Hey! Let go of me!" He kicked his legs out, as his arms were pinned to his side by the man. The man dragged him back into the forest, the entire action being missed by all but the Doctor, who was desperately trying to get to Harry in order to help him.

Harry suddenly jerked his head back, crushing the man's nose, and he yelped in obvious pain. His arms released Harry, as he brought his hands to his bleeding nose. Harry started to run and before he could even go a few feet, the man reached out and seized Harry's arm.

No normally, this would produce another game of "Let me go!" However, the ground on which they had been standing on was rather slippery and therefore, the abrupt stop in Harry's momentum caused him to skid on the forest ground, and he fell over, coincidentally hitting his head on a rock… which caused him to black out.

The hooded man looked at the unconscious boy and said, "Oh damn…" He picked up the small framed boy and marched off into the woods, not knowing the mistake he'd just made.

* * *

Author's Notes: Review!

1) I adapted this explanation from what I've seen and read, so if it's wrong, correct me.

2) The thing about the teeth is from Doctor Who, Season Two: The Parting of the Ways. (don't own)

3) The hunt line was taken (and possibly mangled) from Doctor Who, Season Three: Utopia (don't own)


	9. The Mordaut

Author's Notes:

Firstly, I own nothing! Sorry that this is kind of late. I had tests (A.P.s to those who can relate), and then writers block, and then I was just plain lazy.

Isis the Sphinx: Yes he would be letting his guard down too soon, but I figured it would kind of apart of the magic in the forest that was making him do it

Ominix: Sorry I didn't reply to you last chapter, I just wanted to get it up. Thank you for your comments. Yes Harry does seem simple minded, but it's the Doctor, if you ever watch the episodes when the companion tells someone why they travel with the Doctor, it's because they feel that they can trust him for no reason at all. Voldemort, his friends, for Dumbledore really won't be any real impact here, though maybe in the far, far future when Harry has to get back to his own timeline hint- hint

* * *

The Doctor watched as Harry was carried away by a hooded man. He fought through the mob, desperate not to lose him in a place where they weren't supposed to be.

There was a break in the fight and the Doctor ran forward, only to be tackled to the ground by one of the original guards. "Oh no you don't! Oi, Bernie! Got one!"

"Bernie" grinned maliciously and seized the Doctor's legs as the other guard grabbed his torso. The Doctor didn't have long to struggle. A moment later, he was chucked into a barred wagon with about ten other men already inside. His coat, that consequently held the sonic screwdriver, was ripped from him. The guard closed the door and locked it. A second later, the Doctor was at the barred door looking at the guard with a wild look in his eyes and face, "You have to let me out of here!"

The guard laughed, saying, "Yeah right. Who do you think you are, the bloody King of England?" Before he could respond, the guard continued, "Well it doesn't matter. Prince John rules this land here. The sayings of peasants mean nothing to him."

When Harry woke up, the first thing that he realized was that his head was killing him. The second thing he realized was that his hands were bound behind his back. When he finally opened his eyes, he groaned, not only from the result of bright light, but from the lack of glasses.

He tired to sit up and after a few tries, succeeded. He paused for a moment to let his blurred eyes to adjust to the light, only to make out that it was actually rather dim and he was in a sort of cave. There was also a man there who was holding a bloody cloth to his… _nose_.

By this point the man had seen that Harry was awake and said, "You're awake." He took the cloth from his nose and murmured, "Finally-" when he saw that it had stopped bleeding. He calmly put the cloth down, cupped his hands in a basin of water, and splashed his face. He took a clean cloth and gently wiped the blood off of his still tender nose. "Well, you didn't break it…"

Harry had enough of being ignored and he burst out, "Who are you? Why did you kidnap me?"

"Well, the point was not for ransom, if that is what you were thinking. Neither you or your father-"

"He's not my father," Harry said quickly.

The man gave him a look, "Well, what is he then?"

Harry paused. What was the Doctor to him? HE finally said, "He's called the Doctor. He's just a friend." 'Who happens to be an alien.' He added mentally.

The man gave him a strange look before continuing, "Anyway, you're here not for money, as neither you nor your friend looked rich. You're here because I tired to get you out of that battle, though I do suppose I could have done a better job at it…"

"You think?"

They remained in a stony silence for a few moments. Harry flexed his arms, remembered that he was bound and asked, "So… can you untie me?"

The man gave him a cheeky grin as he asked, "How do I know that you're not going to try and escape?"

Harry responded very dryly, "Where am I gunna go? I don't even know where here is." He paused and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have my glasses would you?"

"Those frames around your eyes?" He picked something off of a table, presumably Harry's glasses.

"Yep."

The man graced the room in three graceful strides, and put the glasses on Harry's face. The man sharply came into focus.

He was rather attractive, with shoulder length brown hair and eyes. He had sharp features, such as high cheekbones, pointed chin and nose, and a generally narrow face. He had full lips and his eyes were full of mirth but had a sense of trust in them. He was rather tan too. Harry stared at him and asked again, "Who are you?"

The man reached down with a knife in his hand and cut the bonds. He then looked Harry in the face and with a full smile said, "I am Robin Hood."

* * *

The Doctor was thrown roughly into a cell and his coat was carelessly thrown onto a table were another disinterested guard had his feet propped up. He ran to the bars and grabbed them, shouting, "You have to let me out of here! I need to find my friend!"

The guard ignored him and the Doctor now saw that he was asleep.

"Stop yelling. It's doing you no good." The Doctor turned to the speaker and saw a large blurry man with a kind face sitting on carved out stone. "Best not to get them aggravated seeing as they have the key." He patted the spot next to him. "Little John," he offered.

The Doctor let a small smile form on his lips. He sat down next to the man and groaned, "The first place I take him, he gets kidnapped and I'm thrown in jail."

"Your friend I take it?"

"Yep."

Little John smiled sympathetically and said, "Ah, I'm sure that he's alright. There may be bad folk here, but there are plenty of goof folk here as well. You just have to know where to look." (1)

Before the Doctor could respond, the door leading to the dungeons, which were surprisingly empty, opened. A regal man with the flowy robes to match flanked by two armed guards, stepped through the door. He walked until he was in front of their cell and looked in with a sneer saying, "Well, well, well. Little John is it? Hood's first lieutenant. I must say that I'm surprised that you've come."

The Doctor said, a bit confused, "Wait, Hood? As in Robin Hood?"

"What other Hood do you think there is in these parts-"

"The Doctor, just the Doctor." Realization dawned on him, "And you're Prince John?" He bounced on the balls of his feet, "Exciting isn't it?"

"Well then Doctor-" He stopped and sniffed the air, closing his eyes. When he opened them, they had a slight red tint to them, and he whispered, "Abhorsen."

"Well. I'd say I've found my Dead Creature," he put on the glasses that he didn't need, "So what are you, then? Hmm? A Dead Hand? Wait! No… clever. You're a Mordaut." (2)

"Ah what?" Little John asked.

"A Mordaut. A creature that takes live hosts and preys off other humans."

"Abhorsen is here…"

"So you're on your own here. There is no one to protect you."

The guards and Little John stared at the Doctor and Prince John as they conversed back and forth.

Prince John spoke again in the same whisper, "Who is he?"

The Doctor's voice took a sharp, protective edge to it, "He is none of your concern, only I am." This one had accumulated too much power from feeding off of prisoners, which explained why it was so empty. Harry would have a hard time defeating him without the bells and proper training. He hoped that the knowledge that he had accumulated would help, and that Styrke would help him.

"He will come, and he will die!"

* * *

Harry, Robin Hood, and some of the Merry Men lightly jogged through the woods towards the castle that, according to a scout, held the Doctor and Robin Hood's first Lieutenant, Little John, who had been captured from a tipoff during a raid the previous day. Robin Hood held up a hand to signal a stop and they all did so gratefully. Robin Hood walked to Harry's side and asked, "Feeling alright?"

"I'll be fine, you?"

"I'm good, we'll be there in about an hour, and then we'll have to wait for a signal."

Harry frowned, "Shouldn't we wait until dark or something?"

Robin Hood shook his head and said, "No, that's what they expect from us. We rarely attack during the day so they'll be unprepared."

Harry nodded and Robin walked of to check on his men. It had taken a little while, but Harry had managed to convince Robin to let him go along. Despite technically being a thief and an outlaw, he was surprisingly protective of people, even ones he scarcely knew.

Harry stretched a bit and pulled out Styrke. He twirled the sword around and frowned. The sword had not been damaged at all, but it seemed to flash, spitting angrily. Harry closed his eyes for a moment and reached out with the Charter. After a moment, he found the disturbance. His eyes flashed open when he realized that something was very wrong.

* * *

When they finally reached the castle, the sun was still shining and they executed out the battle plan. Silently, they crept up the steps and knocked the guards unconscious, not killing them, partly because Harry had asked them not to and partly because the sight of dripping blood would tip someone off.

They entered the castle via a window and set forth to the dungeons, where they hoped to find the Doctor and Little John. For whatever reason, no one was, well anywhere. The halls seemed emptied out and uninhabited. This didn't seem to bother Robin as he and his men to the familiar path to the dungeons. They flung the door open and saw two things. One they saw that the door to a cell with ripped from its hinges and inside the cell was Little John, his face bloody. He was staring at his hands that also had blood on him. Harry caught a whiff of something foul, something… _dead_.

"Robin."

Robin raced through the open cell and placed himself at John's side saying, "John, what happened to you?"

John stared at Robin and said, his voice broken, "Prince John, Robin, he- he. Oh by God Robin! He was dead, a dead thing. His eyes burned red and he ripped the door Robin! Ripped it right off! That other man- the Doctor- he just stood there, called 'im a Mordaut. And by God he screeched, it was so unholy, so damned! John said, 'The Abhorsen will come, and he will die.' And his men, he killed his own men! I tried to save them, but… And then they just left!" He let out a broken sob, and they noticed two guards lying on the stone, brutally murdered.

Harry felt cold, very cold. He felt Death there, and it was because of him. Those men were dead, and he was a cause of it.

Something raged inside of Harry, something that understood what he needed to do. He asked Little John in a cold voice, his face determined, "Where did they go?"

* * *

Harry ran down hallways that were nothing more than blurs to him. He vaguely heard Robin call out after him, but Harry paid him no heed, he knew what he had to do, and he was going to do it. Using his Death Sense, as one book had termed it, he followed the trail left by the Mordaut. After ten minutes of running, he reached a door and flung it open, Styrke in hand.

Harry saw the Doctor first. "Harry, get out of here!" He was silenced by an artifact held by that a regal man, who reeked of Death. The Doctor seemed trapped in a force field that Harry understood as Free Magic, as he smelt its distinctive corrosive tang.

Harry looked at the man and said his voice slightly cold, "So you're the Dead creature we've been looking for."

Prince John nodded to him and responded, "And you are Abhorsen. Too young for this, but I'll have to kill you nonetheless. He smiled more broadly, "They send a child to deal with me. And one without bells too! They could have at least sent you with panpipes, the silly child's toy."

Harry searched him for a weapon, anything, but found nothing. What was he going to do?

But Prince John seemed to know what he was thinking, "You will die in the place that you and your ancestors have sworn to guard."

Before Harry could think, Prince John lunged towards him and grabbed his shoulders. Almost immediately, Harry felt a cold spread through his body. He felt a river rush around his knees. All he suddenly saw was a horizon of gray, a vast never-ending gray. In the distance he heard a waterfall. It took him a moment to realize that he was in the one place where only the Dead and Abhorsens go. The one place where books failed to describe and a place where all feared… He was in Death.

* * *

Harry gawked for a second before instinct forced him to dodge an on coming hand. He fought against the current that was so inviting to take him down the river… Harry turned on his heel and saw what Prince John really was: a semi- corporeal shape, but it's form wasn't really distinctive at all. But he formed his hands into great claws and Harry could almost see the thing sneer. "Here Abhorsen, you will die."

He swung his hand again, but this time Harry was ready. He drew Styrke and held it up in a defensive position. Harry knew that he could not call upon the Charter here, but he didn't know any Free Magic either: he would have to defeat the Mordaut by force. Blow after blow, Harry grew tired. The Mordaut was strong, yet it was still a newborn, so it was rather weak.

Though he remained mostly on the defensive side, Harry managed to get in a few good blows, until he managed to stab the Mordaut in what seemed to be the neck, causing sparks to fly everywhere. The Mordaut lost its somewhat corporeal form and slowly fell into the awaiting river, which gobbled the up the Mordaut hungrily.

Harry took a breath and ignored the call of the river. It was now that he panicked. He had never been in Death before, as he had only read about it in theory. He touched Styrke's blade and felt the reassurance in the Magic that dwelled within it. He realized that they hadn't gone that far, so he did as a book had told him: he felt for the border between Life and Death. When he found it he gave a sigh of relief and started to wade through the river, wincing as he made very conspicuous splashing noises. When he reached the border, he looked around for a moment and felt strangely at peace there. But he felt the warmth that was life, and stepped through.

* * *

Harry felt cold when his spirit reconnected with his body and soon realized why. His entire body was surrounded in a dissipating fog and frost covered every inch of him. His ears even had icicles growing on them. He felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, and saw Prince John holding him. Said prince promptly collapsed. Harry felt his spirit fading, which meant that he was dying.

Harry spotted the Doctor, who was whooping for joy, and the artifact that the Mordaut had used to trap him. Harry walked up to it and saw that it was a Free Magic talisman, but could be canceled out with Charter Magic if the user was either too weak to keep up the spell or if they died.

Harry called upon the spell he needed and easily broke through the Free Magic, feeling happy that he could both feel and use the Charter.

The Doctor practically ran up to him and engulfed him in a hug saying, "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Not many can go into Death and get out on their first time, and defeat a Dead creature- which by the way was a Mordaut in case you didn't know."

"I knew and it was brilliant. It was like I knew that I had to do this and I did it, I really did it!"

The Doctor had a serious look on his face now, "They won't be that easy in the future, I hope you know that."

"They never are, but lets not spoil the moment." Harry suddenly had a sly smile on his face and said, "You where wrong."

The Doctor looked confused, "About what?"

"You said that Robin Hood didn't exist. But guess what I met him."

"It appears that I was wrong, but to make things fair, I did meet Little John-" The Doctor slapped his forehead and said, "Oh damn, what happened after I left?"

"He's freaked out, but I'm sure he'll recover." Harry spied the talisman and said, "I wonder where he got this."

"I think that it was given to him. That's an ancient talisman, completely untouched by the Charter. Very rare and hard to come by. I'm surprised he has it."

"We should keep it then, yeah?" Harry put it in his pocket. "So how long was I in Death?"

"About an hour or so, why?"

"We probably should find Robin… But what about him?" He pointed to Prince John.

The Doctor knelt down next to him and said, "Too much of his life was taken out for anyone to save him. He'll die soon. We'll let Robin decide what to do with him."

* * *

They found them still in the dungeon, where Little John had stopped shaking and they where starting to leave.

Robin exclaimed, "There you are! I followed you, but I couldn't get the door open and…" He saw the Doctor, "It's you from before!"

Harry piped in, "Yep, Robin Hood, Doctor. Doctor, Robin Hood."

"Thanks for looking after him," the Doctor said. He paused and then added in a quiet voice, "Prince John is dying. There's nothing anyone can do about it. So what do you want to do?"

Robin Hood looked divided between shouting for joy and showing respect. On the one had, Prince John had terrorized the people for years, something that Robin and his men had been fighting against. On the other hand, he was a formidable foe and had earned a place in Robin's heart.

"How long does he have."

"About a week, give or take a day."

"Then he will have it, he shall not interfere unless necessary. Even he deserves that much."

* * *

A week and a two days later, the Doctor, Harry, Robin, and Little John where standing in front of the TARDIS. Apparently, Prince John had been rather stubborn to die and had lasted a day longer than he should have, but even he kicked the bucket, so now there was peace in Sherwood, as there was no ruling tyrant. They had all attended the funeral, though they remained out of sight. As it turned out, Robin Hood was only a myth because of the mystery shrouding Prince John's death. Someone had seen the bodies of the two guards and a still scared Little John and had concluded that something fishy had happened at the arrival of two oddly dressed individuals. Thus, legends had been born and the truth forgotten, as would the two outsiders.

During that past week, Robin and the men had taught Harry some swordplay, survival skills, and how to shoot a bow and arrow, which he apparently had a knack for. The Doctor talked with the locals about their way of life and experimented with different types of food, and had secured his coat with the sonic screwdriver in it.

Harry looked around and said, "This forest, it's different. It's not oppressing anymore. It's at peace."

No one said anything, as they felt it too.

The Doctor said, "Well, best be off. You know places to go, people to see."

Robin said, "Yes thank you for all that you have done for us."

Little John just nodded but said to the Doctor, "Don't forget what I said Doctor. About people."

The Doctor smiled and said, "I won't, thank- you."

Harry stepped in first and the Doctor closed the door.

"What was that about?"

The Doctor smiled again and said, "Oh nothing. Now where do you want to go next?"

* * *

Authors Notes:

Finally! I got this chapter done! Oh my god! Sorry if the fight scene between Harry and the Mordaut kinda sucked, I'm not sure how to do those and I just wanted to get this done. Also, Little John doesn't really have a role here because there are so many variations of his personality that I didn't want to screw anyone's perspective of him up. Also Robin Hood is fictional, and once again, I don't own it. Review please.

1) Yes, that is from The Sarah Jane Adventures (don't own!) It's not a bad show either.

2) The Mordaut's definition is accurate, and its first appearance (and only I think) was in _Sabriel_. (don't own!)


	10. The Badly Lit Apperance of an Old Enemy

Author's Notes: Don't own anything, don't sue me

Veryyyyyyyyy sorry for not getting to this sooner, and that the chapter kind of sucks, but... enjoy what you can.

* * *

A low whirling sound filled an alleyway as a blue Police Box appeared in it. When the sound stopped, a young man with messy black hair and green eyes stuck his head out the door and looked around the deserted alleyway. He then disappeared inside and closed the door.

Inside, what you readers know as the TARDIS, there was a racket of metal hitting metal, colorful language on what exactly a piece of machinery could never do to its mother, silence, and finally the boy emerged again with dirty hands and a circular item with numerous blank buttons. He stared at it, as it was completely foreign to him in any and all manner.

He was soon followed out by another man with brown hair and a trench coat. "Ah yes," he said, "The planet Falegorpus, located in the Genco System of the 5th Sector. And only about 100 years ahead of your time." The Doctor's hands had spread out in wonder, as he twirled about with a silly grin on his face.

His companion, Harry, asked, "And we're here because…?"

"Well that particular part you're holding- give that here-" he took it and put it in one of his many pockets, "- happens to be a bio-scanner, one of the few that can measure distinct bursts of energy of a certain species. I've modified it to scan for Dead and Free Magic creatures since it would actually be no real change in its make at all."

"And by modified you mean eventually broke?"

"I didn't break it," he said insulted, "The technology is simply too simple and since I added too much power to such a simple machine, it malfunctioned in a way beyond my control and needed to be brought back to its planet of origin to fix it."

Harry nodded and with a sly smile said, "Yeah, you broke it."

The Doctor didn't appear to hear him. He led the way out of the alley.

Harry followed him into a bustling city and gasped when he saw the natives. Falegorpeans had tall, lanky bodies with floppy membranous ears. Their arms had coarse fur on them and their hands had long, slender, flexible fingers on them with black talons for fingernails. Their legs were furry too, but their feet were like those of cats. Their torso had the same fur, but was thicker and covered with a type of leather armor. Their faces held sharp features, most of which were pointed, including elf-like ears. In their mouths there was the hint of fangs. And their eyes were dark like coal or onyx, perhaps. They were all barefoot.

"That," the Doctor said to a still shocked Harry, "is a Falegorpean. Brilliant technological race by the way."

Harry stared a moment longer and looked at himself and asked, "Don't we stand out? I mean they're… them and we're… us?"

The Doctor shook his head saying, "Nah. Think of it this way," they started walking, "You see a guy on the street ringing a bell shouting that the world is going to end, what do you do?" Before Harry could answer the Doctor answered, "Nothing. You give him a second's look and then continue on your way. They'd do the same thing. Besides the form you humans take is a very common form so you're not as out of place as you might think."

The Doctor led him through a vast city, eerily similar to Manhattan. There were no cars, but in their place were Hippogriff- like creatures, but they were bigger, leaner, and instead of a horse's body they had the full body of an eagle. "Doctor, is that a hippogriff?"

"Ah yes, the hippogriff. During the Roman Empire, they made an accidental appearance on Earth, and were seen by Publius Vergilius Maro, or just Virgil. Though he couldn't get a decent look at them, as he thought they had a horse's body, and coined the term to 'mate Griffons with mares,' which is your species equivalent to 'when pigs fly.' Later Ludovico Ariosto's poem, _Orlando furioso_, gave them their first appearance in classic literature. Though here, they're called hommids."

Harry nodded and looked around more, and saw that the hommids were either pulling carts, being ridden on, or being cared for by their owners. But, when he looked at the signs plastered around the city, he saw that they were written… in English. He over heard two Falegorpeans talking, "Well I think that the new communications system is definitely up to date old chap."

The other answered, "Are you really that daft?"

"Doctor?"

"Hm?"

"Why's everything written in English? Why are they _speaking_ in English?"

"Oh right. Forgot about that part. It's just the TARDIS. It gets inside your head. It translates for you. They really talk in squawky- like voices. Fascinating really."

"So, is that why you sound like you're from the North?"

"Hey lots of places have a North. I just happen to like the accent."

"Alright, you don't have to get testy." He looked around again and asked, "So I can go to any planet and understand what they say?"

"And they you. Damn useful too. Can't tell you how many times I've gotten into trouble with the natives of some world because they couldn't understand me properly." He pointed to a shop with the name "Fix- Its", "Here we are." The door opened with a ring of a bell.

The shop was a bit dingy, but full of life. Technology was filled to the brim on shelves. Some things were spinning around, dancing with their bright colors. Others looked like impressive scrap heap. Some where meticulously covered in dust, and others looked factory- new.

They walked to the counter that displayed new gadgets with a silver bell on top. The Doctor reached out and in a reserved child- like fashion, tapped the bell with a certain degree of giddiness. A small "Ping!" filled the shop and a voice called out from a back room, "Coming! Coming!"

A Falegorpean with grease stained on his hands and face ran up the steps and said, "Yes?"

"Yeah, hi. You do repair jobs right?"

The man swelled up his chest in pride and bragged, "Yep, finest in the galaxy. You'd be hard pressed to find my quality anywhere else." Harry had to keep from rolling his eyes.

"Right, I'm sure." The Doctor fished out the bio- scanner from his pocket and said, "Do you think you can repair this? It's a bit outdated for its time but-"

"A **bit** out-dated?! I haven't seen that model in over 50 years. Why are you still using it?"

"I really think that it's besides the point. Can you fix it or not?" The Doctor's voice had taken an annoyed edge to it, though very subtle.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." He took the gadget and opened it, exclaiming, "What the hell did you do to it?!"

"Never mind, how much and how long?"

"Eh…" he scratched his head, "About six hours. The amount depends on the work, but I can tell you right now that it's going to cost you a pretty penny."

"Oh well," the Doctor looked down for a moment. He then brightened and said in a cheery voice, "Well, see you in six hours!" He turned and exited the store, Harry close behind him.

Deep below the planet's surface, a poorly lit room with a large view screen sat. There were two occupants of the room, both of whom obscured by bad lighting. On the view screen was an image of Harry trying some local food, and then promptly spitting it out in disgust as the Doctor laughed at him. The Doctor said something and Harry glared at him. The view screen zoomed in on the Doctor.

"It is him," a scratchy voice filled the room.

"Yes," the second voice said. "It appears that we shall have our revenge at last." The voice was very dull, but emphasized every single syllable, "Shall I dispatch our people to capture the boy?"

"Yes! The Doctor will come. And he will **beg**!"

* * *

Harry hopped off the hommid and laughed. It was much better than flying on Buckbeak had been, albeit, this time there had been a saddle and a Falegorpean had been driving. He thanked the man and walked over to the Doctor with a windblown expression and a silly grin on his face. He laughed saying, "That was amazing! Oh my… Thank- you."

The Doctor smiled and said, "It's not a problem." He looked at his watch and said, "Well, that only ate up about an hour. So what do you want to do now?"

Harry thought and asked, "Well, what is there to do?"

"Hmm… Well, how about a museum? Might as well learn what you can about aliens when you have the chance."

Harry jerked his thumb backwards and said, "I saw one back that way, lets go."

* * *

In the shadows, another obscured figure watched the Doctor and Harry go into the Museum of Galactic History. He pressed down on the arm band he wore and spoke into it, "They have entered; move into position and standby."

* * *

Inside the museum, Harry and the Doctor exited a hall called "The Hall of the Worst Tortures: Not for the Faint Hearted or Those Who Have Just Eaten." Both of them had their mouths hanging open in shock and blank expressions on their faces. The Doctor was the first to regain his somewhat- there sanity, "I've seen some things, things that you wouldn't believe. But this… and all in one place!"

Harry nodded and said, "And I thought that Earth was screwed up. Turns out everyone one else is."

"Nah, you're all screwed."

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"So," The Doctor said after he took a breath, "On to the next one?"

Before Harry could answer, an explosion filled the hallway, blowing the Doctor, Harry, and anyone else in the hall off of their feet, sprawling them about twenty feet from where they were.

Through the smoke, black figures raced into the building and formed a circle around Harry and the Doctor. "Put your hands up!" Harry looked at the Doctor, who nodded and whispered, "Don't panic, just do as they say."

Louder he asked, "Who are you? What do you want with us?"

Instead of an answer, the two of the men shot them with stunners from the guns held in their hands. They never stood a chance.

When the Doctor came to, he saw that he was in a cell, alone in a hallway, and Harry no where to be found.


	11. The Saǻkes

Authors Notes:

I own nothing!!

Sorry for not updating sooner. I had massive writers block and I really struggled with this chapter, so if it seems a bit disjointed, I'm sorry. Also, Harry seems weak now, but soon, he will become stronger. Enjoy!

* * *

Harry Potter was tired of waking up in strange places that he didn't recognize. He really didn't like it when he was either in a cell of some kind or bound in some way. Fortunately for him, it was never both, and this time it was in a cell with really bad lighting. At least he had his glasses; it had been disastrous that one time he had walked in on that woman in the shower. Not that she had really minded…

"So you are awake." It wasn't a question, but an observation that Harry was tired of hearing. Still annoyed, and groggy from being stunned, as he vaguely remembered someone leveling a blaster with a stun feature to him, his response was rather very touchy.

"Good for you for noticing Sherlock." The alien didn't step into the light, and he couldn't even make out an outline.

"I can assure you that I am not this, Sherlock as you might think I am." Damn that voice was annoying; it was emphasizing very-single-freaking-syllable.

Harry rolled his eyes and said, "It's an expression and-" he shook his head, "who are you anyway?"

"My name is not important. Though my master wishes to meet you once you have awoken, and since you have awoken-" he pointed a handheld device at the cell door. With a small buzz, the cell opened and out of the shadows came five creatures whose skin seemed to change colors when introduced to certain lighting. They were tall and had five fingers on each hand, including something akin to opposable thumbs. They had on their faces what seemed to be gas masks, except slimmer and also blended with the skin and light. They all had blasters, with the oh-so-handy stun feature, on them.

At Harry's confused look at the new race of aliens, the one who had spoken stepped into the light. He had the same features, except he had a blue rode on. He said, "We are called Saǻkes: a race of highly trained assassins. I had once been one of the assassins, but alas…" Now Harry saw that this one could not blend with the light. The robed Saǻke gestured to the other Saǻkes, "If you try to escape, they will shoot you."

One of the Saǻkes nudged his gun for Harry to follow him out. He looked warily at the group and saw that he had not been given an empty threat, they would kill him. He needed a plan and fast.

* * *

The Doctor bit back another growl of frustration as he failed to open up the cell door with the sonic screwdriver. The cell was much like the one that he and Little John had shared, except this one had a deadlock seal that only one with a master key could open. Not that he didn't try to open it anyway…

No one seemed to be around either. The hallway was empty of guards, which was strange, but he seemed to be the only prisoner there.

As he tried to open the door again, a blaring alarm suddenly sounded throughout the halls. A voice sounded on an intercom system, "A PRISONER HAS ESCAPED. ALL UNITS PREPARE TO DETAIN." Now the Doctor already had an idea as to who would have the brains to escape and actually have to guts and stupidity to pull it off. As of right now, he wasn't sure whether or not to be extremely worried or be jumping for joy. He decided to mull it over by working on the door some more.

* * *

_About ten minutes earlier:_

Harry was walking down a hallway that was painted gray, had a lot of doors, and for some reason had rather good lighting. He looked around for something, anything that would help him escape. He saw nothing for a while until… A Falegorpean pushing a cart was walking down the hallway in the opposite direction. Harry had no idea as to what was in the bubbling test tubes and beakers, but it looked dangerous. The Saǻkes, who when they were not blending with the light had green, lizard-like skin, turned their attention to the Falegorpean and gestured to the cart.

The Falegorpean held up an identification card and said, "I am transporting this to the science labs on the ground floor. I assume that my clearance is noted?" His voice sounded very irritated at being stopped for what was probably one of many times. The Saǻke who had gestured to him looked at the clearance pass that apparently accompanied the Falegorpean's ID card. After a few tense moments, he made a "move- along" motion with his blaster and, not without some reluctance, stepped aside.

As they waited for him to pass, Harry made up his mind. In one smooth motion, he stuck his left foot in front of the wheel and easily flipped the table upside down, smashing together various unstable liquids. In instant an explosion knocked everyone off of their feet. Gathering his senses, he seized a blaster from one of the Saǻkes and, after making sure that it was set on stun, stunned everyone he could see.

When the smoke cleared, he saw that there was only one more Saǻke standing. The Saǻke aimed his own blaster and in a flash, shot Harry's out of his hands. Panicking, Harry pulled out his wand, which he had hidden in the back pocket of his jeans, and shouted, "Stupefy!"

But the result was not what he wanted or expected. The red jet of light hit the Saǻke in the chest, but the creature just stumbled back a bit. Harry panicked again in a mixture of both shock and fear. He raised his wand again and repeated the process, but again, it had the same affect. Deciding that wizard magic was not the way to go, he reached into the Charter and pulled out the marks needed to create the equivalent to the stunning spell. He spoke the names of the marks and released the spell, all in an instant. It hit the Saǻke, and he almost looked surprised, and he fell over, unconscious, with a very confused Harry in his wake.

He was now the only one standing, and saw that the chemicals had contained a rather large amount of acid and was currently eating through the floor, walls, light fixtures, and ceiling. He gave the area one last look over and promptly ran down the hall, hearing an alarm blare about ten minutes later.

When that had happened, he had been resting in an apparently unused room, catching his breath and holding a map of the underground compound. As it turned out, everything was labeled. Right now, he was in section D-4 room 1,001. Still bending over the map, he saw a large blank space, which, at least it translated to, said Control Room. Harry decided that that was the best place to look for the Doctor, as he seemed the type to be usually shepherded to a room of actual importance.

With caution that would make Mad- Eye Moody proud, he opened the door and proceeded down the hallway, keeping his footsteps silent in the fashion he had learned from Robin Hood. The alarm still blared, making it impossible for him to hear any other footsteps anyway. Therefore, he didn't realize that a Saǻke had snuck up behind him until it was too late.

* * *

The Doctor froze when he heard the alarm stop. It meant one of two things: either someone had turned it off for no reason, which was extremely unlikely, or Harry had been caught. But before the Doctor could step up his own escape attempts, the door to his cell opened with a loud buzz.

The robed Saǻke from before looked at the Doctor and said, "My master wished to meet you."

The Doctor answered, "Who are you? What have you done with Harry?"

The Saǻke answered, "That is not important. As for your friend, he is fine, as long as you corporate."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed and he nodded stiffly. He exited the cell, walking with the pure aura of danger. Instead of taking the scenic route to show off the impressive size of the base that would instill hopeless thoughts in prisoners, they took a lift, probably afraid to loose another prisoner.

When the doors opened, they were assaulted with horrible lighting and a large view screen with static filling it. Honestly, the Doctor was rather surprised to see something so… Earthy. Not that he showed it anyway. The second thing that he noticed was that the air seemed, heavier, like their was something else in it.

A scratchy voice suddenly filled the room, "Leave us!"

The robed Saǻke responded, "But, my lord-"

"I said 'leave!'"

He bowed, "As you wish." He walked out of the room, the other Saǻkes trailing behind him.

When the door closed, the room grew even darker, and was lit by the static screen and greenish goo in tanks.

"This will hardly do," the voice said, and dulled down lights flickered on, the room was apparently made for either a photophobic (1) person or one who wanted to hide their appearance. Or in the rare cases, both. The room, the Doctor saw, also contained various control panels, all sensitive equipment.

"Well Doctor, it appears that we meet again."

The Doctor looked well and truly clueless, "Sorry, but who are you?"

"Figures that fool wouldn't tell you." The alien stepped into the light and the Doctor had to fight to not recoil back. He was a Saǻke, but not just any Saǻke, the Saǻke leader, whose name he remembered as Ranock. Tine had not been good to him. His face had permanent scarring from radiation, and he didn't wear the gas mask like device. It would explain the lack of the mask, as Saǻkes needed heavier air to survive, but this one clearly couldn't wear one.

"Do you remember a place called Maritus?" The Doctor stared at the Saǻke leader as a memory clicked and his mouth dropped in realization and his eyes filled with a regret only the truly sorrowful can feel. He remembered Maritus. The Saǻkes had been preparing a weapon that held radiation like an Earth atom bomb, but much more powerful, radioactively potent, and dangerous. The Doctor had to stop them before they destroyed nearly an entire system, but ended up destroying them instead. He had thought that none of them survived.

"It was my family and home that had perished that day, caused by you. The wonderful Doctor," he scoffed. "You are the reason that we were alone for 100 years! Living crippled and degraded in shame because we were of the Saǻke race! You tarnished our good name and you just went off on your way like the pathetic man you are!"

The Doctor fumbled for words, "I- I never thought- I never knew that…" His head bowed in shame and he said with an honesty that few could ever give, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry doesn't bring them back. Sorry doesn't make up for the years I have lived in pain and suffering for the mistakes of an idiot! You have no idea what's it's like to love someone and then have them ripped from you! You travel with people and then you leave them when you tire of them. You abandon them and then you replace them when you're bored and needy."

Now the Doctor became angry, "How dare you think that for one second that I never cared for my companions, that I never loved any of them." Painful memories came to him and he remembered faces of those he loved and lost, for an instant he remembered Susan, Jamie, Adric, Ace, Sarah Jane … Rose… he remembered all of these people and more: people who he had loved, or who had died. "I had loved them…" His voice was sad and he looked forlornly at Ranock, "And I know what it's like to lose them." The anger returned, "So don't you dare say that I never cared, don't you ever say that!"

But Ranock only laughed, "A typical excuse, claiming to care. You do no such thing at all. But…" He turned from the Doctor and pointed his hand to the view screen, the static cleared and the image of Harry appeared.

He was lying unconscious on the ground in an empty room. "You see," Ranock started to say, "he is unharmed," he turned back to the Doctor, "or at least he is now. You see, I find it hard to believe that someone like that would travel with a man like you. Then I thought that perhaps you did something to him. So I decided that I would help set him free from you." The Doctor drew what he hoped was the wrong conclusion.

"As we speak, that room is filling up with that primitive Earth gas, carbon monoxide. A painless death, he will simply be asleep."

Anger replaced shock and the Doctor, in a fury said, "I swear if he dies-"

But Ranock just laughed at the Doctor, "What will you do? Kill me? I thought that you were against killing. But that's not really my problem is it?"

The Doctor was seething as he replied, "No, but I will be, count on that, I will be!" With that said, he raised the sonic screwdriver that he fished out of his pocket and pressed down in one smooth motion. It buzzed and the control machines sparked and flared up. Ranock stepped back, covering his face with his arms. The Doctor then pointed the sonic screwdriver at a door and opened it. He cast the panicking Ranock a hatred filled look and ran out the door, determined to save Harry.

The Doctor was lucky that they organized everything so meticulously. It was easy to find the room that Harry was in, but it was hard to open. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the door, desperate to open the door, but it was deadlocked, he couldn't open it.

He looked through the window door and saw Harry lying on the ground. For no real purpose, he shouted, "HARRY!" He didn't expect a response, nor did he receive one.

Then he remembered a special setting on the sonic screwdriver that would dematerialize solid objects and from holes on the shape of squares. (2) He hurriedly did so and a large square took the place of the wall. He rushed in and was immediately assaulted by the air that seemed thicker somehow. He picked up Harry and brought him outside, and restored the wall before any more carbon monoxide could escape.

Assuming his role of an actual Doctor, he began to perform CPR. "Come on, breathe, damn you, breathe!" His words were choked by tears that threatened to fall and he nearly cried when Harry took a gasp of breath on his own nearly ten minutes later.

He continued to cough, trying to get air in his lungs and weakly said, "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Good to see you again."

The Doctor smiled, but Harry didn't see it, he fell back asleep.

* * *

Ranock looked at the image and smirked. He had known that the Doctor would succeed in saving his friend, and would look after him, giving him ample time to escape. He pushed a button on his wrist, "Saverre."

The robed Saǻke entered the room, "Yes my lord?"

Ranock answered him, "We are leaving, gather all of our personnel and erase the memories of our Falegorpean operatives."

"As you wish my lord."

Saverre left the room and Ranock smiled to himself, "Poor Doctor, when he comes here, he will find nothing."

* * *

The Doctor did find nothing. After taking Harry back to the TARDIS, and hooking him up to an oxygen mask, he went to find Ranock, only to see that the entire complex was deserted.

Upon reaching the control room, he saw a simple note with the words, "We'll see each other again."

* * *

1) Photophobia is the fear of light.

2) This happened in "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" (Doctor Who: Season 4)


	12. Interlude 11 A Long Explanation

Author's Notes: This is just a filler chapter that explains as to why Harry's magic won't work against aliens. There is going to be another Interlude chapter either the next one, or the one after.

Enjoy!

* * *

Harry walked through the halls of the TARDIS until, after eight wrong turns, completing one circle, and backtracking three times, he found himself in the garden room. The room, as Harry had found out thanks to the TARDIS herself, had and still was a favorite place for companions and the Doctor alike: providing calm amidst all the chaos that one would experience while traveling with the Doctor.

But for Harry, there hadn't been any chaos for nearly two weeks. After his close call on Falegorpus, he had spent three days in the infirmary under the Doctor's hawk-like watch; conveniently ignoring the computer's clear diagnosis that Harry was fine. But after that, the Doctor refused to land unless he was absolutely certain that there would be no danger at all. But the Doctor being the Doctor, who had a rather astounding record of attracting those up to no good, he decided that it was safer not to land at all.

So Harry resigned himself to wandering the halls of the TARDIS, refusing to be confined to his room which led to a spectacular row. The Doctor had protested that Harry would not be safe on his own and at that the TARDIS had lurched at just the right angle to throw the Doctor, but not Harry, to the floor. After Harry had finished his laughing fit and the Doctor, outraged, shouted, "Whose side are you on?!" Harry pointed out that the TARDIS was perfectly safe and that the Doctor knew it better than anyone. The Doctor had grudgingly allowed Harry to wander her halls, but warned him that any locked doors were to stay locked.

A few hours later, in the consul room, Harry had eavesdropped on the Doctor saying, no doubt to the TARDIS, "I dunno, I guess it's just this instinct to lock him in his room and never left him out again. I mean he's not my kid, but…"

Now Harry sat on the bench that had been frequented so many times be his predecessors, mulling over what to do. As he stroked the soapstone dog cupped in his hands, he realized that he was almost finished reading all of the books on Charter Magic in the library- Hermione would be proud. He had practiced some of the spells in an empty room with the Doctor breathing down his neck to make sure that he didn't hurt himself.

But what was really fun was that he could see the magic when he used Wizard Spells with his wand. He actually understood transfiguration and charms more than ever: how to create a spell using certain energy, then dividing it up into sub energy, and then filtering it into the intended target, and eventually getting a result. Even potions was easier: certain ingredients gave off magical signatures and helped him see if they would react badly or not in the current mixture.

What really made him uneasy was what had happened when he had shot the stunning spell at the Saǻke on Falegorpus. The spell had barley fazed him, but Charter Magic worked so well…

"Dilemma?" Harry looked up and saw the Doctor leaning on a tree, an amused smile playing on his lips.

"Yeah…" Harry looked down, before looking up at the Doctor with sincere and frightful eyes, "Doctor, there's something that I didn't tell you, about what happened on Falegorpus."

The Doctor looked alarmed; he had every right to be after the note that had been left for him.

"See, when I was trying to get away from the Saǻkes, I panicked and shot a stunning spell at one of them, and it didn't work. I tried it again, and again, but it wouldn't work. But when I used Charter Magic, it worked like it should…" His expression became earnest, desperate, and confused, "Why was that?"

The Doctor smiled reassuringly, "Ahh- so that's what's been bothering you." He sat down beside Harry and said in an exited voice, "See, Harry, the thing is, as much as I hate the word 'Magic' it really is the only thing that most have ever called it, so I'll bite my tongue for this.

"Firstly, how much do you know about evolution?"

Harry thought back scrunching his eyes and nose up, "Not much except for snatches of 'Survival of the Fittest,' Voldemort would like that one and some guy and his birds."

"Ahh, Charles Darwin and his finches. Really nice bloke, bit obsessed in the end, named one of the finches Tallulah. Wife wasn't happy about it…" (1)

"Why?"

"Her name was Emma."

"Oh."

"Yeah… Anyway, evolution." He leaned back against another tree and ran his hand through his hair as he thought of the best way to talk things through. "Well, when the human race was starting out, a lot of different genetic codes were created and re-created until a superior species was formed. But evolution was not to be confined to just one species. Humans and creatures kept evolving over and over; in some cases, the creature formed was so good, that there was no more room for improvement. Take sharks for instance: if you see earlier pictures of them, you'll see that they have barely changed at all. (2)

"But for humans, the change was never ending. Codes were created and rejected, the species were tired out and killed. But one… one stuck." He turned to Harry, "See, by this point, the human form, or an earlier version of it was deemed worthy enough to not change, but the internal versions were alternating."

He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his thighs and laced his fingers together, "The first types of brain functions were formed, and they were divided up into two separate types of functioning humans: the older version with general brain functions, and the new ones, with higher brain functions."

He leaned back, resting his back against the tree again, and looked at Harry with a certain excitement in his eyes, "See, the average human uses only 10 percent of their brain at time. Every moment, a different 10 percent is used for specific needs and actions. But not all of the brain is used.

"See, this is where what you call 'Muggles' and wizards differ. Wizards are in constant access to a certain part of their brains that emits a tremendous amount of psychic energy. The amount of access differs for different people: your 'Squibs' have a very basic brush while the likes of Merlin, Voldemort, and Dunbledore have a larger tap than most.

"So really, Voldemort is right about one thing only, that wizards are only better than Muggles because they are simply in tune with a part of their brains that, really, any Muggle can access given technology and time."

Harry nodded and took it all in, "So all Magic is, is psychic energy that anyone can access?"

The Doctor nodded. Harry continued, "So that's why there are muggle- borns? Because anyone can access it?"

"Yep. But this development had consequences. The developing humans didn't understand this power, the kept killing their own kind and others until evolution decided that they would wipe out their own species, so they buried the genes in multiple codes. But as time went on, these codes were brought up again and made their most notable début in the form of Merlin, but some of the most famous legends are really based on the psychic energy escaping: The gods and goddesses of legends, the Mists of Avalon, the stories of King Arthur and mostly, his enchanted sword, Excalibur." (3)

Harry nodded again, suddenly feeling very vulnerable at the fact that all he knew about Magic was all a lie. "They were always going on about blood purity and how, depending on blood- status, whether or not they are better than others." The Doctor didn't need to ask who "they" were, he had spent much time observing and reading up on wizarding customs. "But really, all it was… was the chance of having access to another part of the human brain." Harry sounded lost, but asked anyway, "But, how is this different from Charter Magic? And why does it work against aliens?"

The Doctor continued his explanation of "Magic" very gently, "There is a big difference. Charter Magic is the psychic energy of both the mind and body. The energy is drawn from the body and sorted out in the mind. That's why blood is so powerful in Charter Magic: it's half the energy. See for wizards, you damage the mind; you damage their psychic ability and render their energy useless. For Charter Mages, you can damage only one source, but the other can still function."

He sat up straight and gripped the bench with his hands and adopted a thoughtful, far away look on his face and a childish curiosity in his voice, "As for why the Charter works, well, it's the energy of the body and mind. See-" he took out the billfold with the Psychic Paper in it and flashed it at Harry with a silly grin, " when I hold this up to you, you see what I want you to see. It emits a low range psychic energy to trick your brain into believing something that isn't true. Same thing with the TARDIS; it emits low range telepathic energy and allows you to understand different languages and speak them without ever knowing you're doing it. Does nothing for accents though," he added thoughtfully, "Never could do anything about that…

"Anyway, since those examples, and others, are so low key, they are virtually undetectable. The only way to combat them is to receive basic psychic training. Oh, that reminds me," he became serious, "if you ever come across Torchwood or U.N.I.T, or even the Pharos Institute, remember that they all have basic psychic training; and I'll explain who they are later. Back to the point," he was back to cheerful, "since Wizard Magic is the energy of the mind, it puts a lot of psychic power behind spells and incantations and whatever, and you create a spell. However, most aliens are immune to large scale psychic attacks because their brains are more developed and perceive them as a threat that needs to be blocked, so they see through the spells and are able to use their own minds to render them virtually harmless: I even think that Avada Kadavera just knocks them out for a good while. But they have some affect anyway, not much, but some because they use the energy in whatever arm you use to send the energy into the wand. Fascinating really. (4)

"But Charter Magic is the combined energies of the mind and body and are frontal attacks, so they work as any other attack would. Understand?"

"I think so."

"Good because I hate the word 'Magic,' so now it will be called psychic energy, alright?"

Harry nodded.

The Doctor beamed, "Good." He stood up and with a wide smile, said, "So Mister Potter, I do believe that I owe you a trip, where and/or when would you like to go?"

They started to walk down the hall and arrived in the Consul Room in five minutes. Harry pouted; it had taken him nearly forty-five minutes to get there…

"Well, I've heard of something called 'Woodstock' that was really popular."

"Woodstock it is then. For some reason everyone goes there at least once. Then after that, we're going shopping. Don't give me that look. See this?, "he held up the sonic screwdriver, "I can program any credit card to hold unlimited credit and it is never traced anywhere."

Harry smirked slightly, "Isn't that stealing?"

"Nah, not as long as it gets paid, eventually. Now I wonder where I have the least chance of me running into me..."

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Review!!

Author's Notes:

1) I don't know if he ever named his finches, but his wife's name was Emma.

2) I'm pretty sure that that's right, if not correct me!

3) I own none of these

4) I don't own anything related to torchwood, unit, or pharos. Also, all of the stuff about psychic energy, why aliens are resistant to wizard magic and crap is all made up, but it is a reason why the Doctor would believe in anything that is happening with Harry.


	13. Some Really Weird Closure

Authors Notes: I own nothing, also I own nothing for the last chapter too, since I forgot the disclaimer, don't sue me. I tried to make baby Harry sound as, well, childish as possible, so forgive me if I fall short of the mark. Enjoy!

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On October 31, 1981, a night that will forever live sorrow and wonder, two amazing things happened. The first thing was that a powerful and terrible spell, the Killing Curse, rebounded on its caster and an incredible exchange of life occurred.

See, all those years ago when the Killing Curse hit little Harry Potter, the leading theory was (advocated by one Albus Dumbledore) was that Lily's sacrifice for her son had activated ancient and old blood magic, that protected Harry with the power of love for the rest of his life. Half of that theory is real, most of it is bull, and there is a large chunk missing. Also any rumor started by Xenophilius Lovegood that Crumple- horned Snorkacks or Nargles had anything to do with the betrayal of the Potters are and will always be completely false.

The parts that are true are, and in order, are that the Potters were betrayed by their Secret Keeper (Peter Pettigrew, NOT Sirius Black), Voldy killed James Potter first with no effort really, the idiot didn't even have his wand with him, then he proceeded up to the nursery where Lily Potter nee Evans and Harry were, Lily gave her life for Harry, blood protection ensues, and here is where Dumbles was wrong. The really big bull part is that the blood magic lasted after that night.

See, little Harry Potter was protected by Lily's blood magic, but only for that brief moment, and the Killing Curse did rebound and destroyed Voldy's body, but something else happened… Harry Potter died…

_October 31, 1981: Just after the death of Harry Potter_

The Disreputable Dog abandoned her quest for the Fifth Gate rester, the sneaky little bugger, and trotted off to the First Precinct, suddenly wary of a disturbance in the balance. Something had gone completely right.

When she arrived, her old and wised (sp?) eyes showed a youthful mischief and vast knowledge long forgotten amongst many of the living. When she arrived at the precinct she saw some one that should not only be there, but was always supposed to arrive: a small child with messy black hair and amazing green eyes. His spirit was hanging out by the very entrance into Death: a simple step away from Life yet without the knowledge to get back.

The Disreputable Dog cautiously approached the child and noticed that the usual tide of the river had lessened somewhat. With a sharp bark, the river stilled as it had for his parents when they crossed through the First Gate, and the small boy looked at her in fear and awe.

The Disreputable Dog sat on her hunches and inched forward, keeping her gaze upon Harry. He suddenly smiled and pointed his finger at her, screeching rather happily, "Pafoo!" But when the Disreputable Dog moved closer, Harry saw that it was not "Pafoo," but another dog that he did not know. His face fell and he said, "No Pafoo?"

The Dog surprised him when she responded with a gentle "No. I am sorry, I am not 'Pafoo.'"

"You right," he responded with certainty, "Pafoo no talk when doggie." He paused, then asked timidly, "Doggie come here?"

The Disreputable Dog let her face split into a silly grin and aligned her back next to Harry and sat down slightly, allowing him to scratch her back with his tiny hands.

In a corner of her mind, she remembered that she had a job to do, and as much as she didn't want to subject this innocent to it, she had no choice. She couldn't risk a reality or more on her own want, even if she wanted nothing more to. She turned and looked at Harry and spoke softly, filling her words with the gentle energy of the Charter, "Sleep childe, and blessed be." (1)

When he had fallen into a slumber, the Disreputable Dog licked his forehead, as she had done years ago to young Nicholas, and allowed him to become blessed with the Charter. His body glowed for a moment, as the energy within him was unlocked and realized. "We will meet again Harry Potter, and I am truly sorry." With another bark, the spirit of the young boy left the realm of Death and returned to the living. If all went the way it should, then the future depended upon an annoying man and his incredible blue box.

_Meanwhile_

Harry Potter sat outside on a stone bench of his parent's safe house in Godric's Hollow. He stared at the broken remains of the place where he had felt warmth that he did not remember: warmth that belonged to his parents. Silent tears crept down his cheeks, illuminated by flames from the explosion that had been witnessed.

Next to him, with his arm around his shoulders was the Doctor, who, for the record, had been seriously against coming here, but Harry had insisted, saying that he needed some vague form of closure. Of course when they had arrived a bit too early and Voldemort was just approaching the house. The Doctor's quick thinking had him setting up a perception filter around the TARDIS and some surrounding area, as he knew what would happen next.

_Harry ran out of the TARDIS, wand out and bent on murder. The Doctor followed, bent on keeping Harry from killing Voldemort. He caught up with him easily and seized him by putting his arms around his waist and shouting, "Harry don't!-"_

_Harry, struggling, shouted back, "No, Doctor let me go!"_

"_I can't and you know it." The Doctor was virtually seething, "If you stop this then the whole world goes to hell is that what you want?!"_

_With breath still full of anger, he responded, "No. But I don't care!"_

"_Yes you do! You know what can happen. You can't change this Harry, it has to happen whether you want it to or not!"_

"_It's not fair. How can they do that to me?" The Doctor turned Harry around, and Harry began to pound on his chest, the wand cast aside on the ground, and screamed through his tears, "How could they leave me here all alone when I needed them? I need them." (2)_

_Harry stopped his struggles and said brokenly, "It's not fair." Then with more sadness and conviction he repeated, "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair!" The Doctor closed the hug and pressed Harry's face to his chest and Harry could hear the sluggish heartbeats of the Time Lord. With shaky breaths soon turning into sobs, he whispered into the Doctor's chest, "It's not fair. Why can't we save them? Why? It's not fair." He clung to the Doctor as if his life depended on it._

"_I know it's not fair. I know." he whispered back. Oh he knew, he knew. His entire world and race gone, by his own hand. He lost the woman that he had even loved, still loved for that matter. "It'll be ok, shhh…"_

_When the Deaths inside occurred, Harry flinched each time as he felt people dying, and the Doctor never let go._

That was how they came to be sitting on a bench outside. The Doctor turned to Harry and asked, "Are you ready to go in?" _Do you want to go in?_

Harry nodded, "Yeah." _Liar._

The Doctor knew that he was lying, he was an expert at it. Harry needed this, just as he had needed to kill a star to say good-bye to Rose, so he held his tongue with more ease than he expected.

For a meager distraction, Harry cast protection spells using the Charter, to which he was becoming rather adept at, though making them stronger than he intended to. "How much time do we have before Sirius gets here?"

"About twenty minutes or so, but he won't be able to see us anyway: the TARDIS will make sure of it."

Carefully, they entered the house. Harry looked over the living room where James was and saw that his eyes where open, a look of fierce determination and surprise filtering over them. He knelt down beside his father and asked, "Can I- can I close his eyes?"

"I wish I could let you, but Sirius has to, the shock delays him and putting his friends at rest does too. As much as I don't like it, you have to go to your _relatives_." He almost spat out the last word. "It's the way the Time Stream flows; this is a pivotal point in history, everything that has happened here was supposed to happen and was made happen, and everyone involved plays their part that cannot be changed."

Harry nodded but asked instead, "Can I at least touch him, just to know- just to know?"

The Doctor smiled, "Yeah, that'll be okay."

Harry reached out staring intently at his father, who really did look remarkably like him, afraid that he would disappear if he even blinked and gently brushed his cheek his hit knuckles. He felt nothing, just the cold.

He whispered, "Hi dad, it's me, Harry. Course you know, I'm just a bit older is all." He smiled a bit, "You'll be happy to know that I'm a Gryffindor and the Seeker for the house team. We won the Quiddich Cup in my third year." He stopped and thought for a moment, "It's not your fault you know. You couldn't have known. I'm sorry that I can't remember you, but, that's how it is you know? Life always being unfair to me. But I love you, and mum, and… well… you know the rest." (3)

He stood up slowly and walked up the not very stable stairs to the nursery where he knew his mother was. The Doctor watched him go and looked at the body of James Potter. As he opened his mouth to say something, he stopped, he would wait.

When he arrived in the nursery, he saw Harry knelt beside his mother, touching her face and whispering words that she would never hear, "-Saw dad before I came up, and I saw my dead self over there. Have to admit that that gave me a bit of a scare, guess I haven't been reborn yet." Harry swallowed and said through tears, "I miss you, both of you; I just really wish that I can do more than this." He looked at her eyes and saw exact duplicates of his, but also with a determination and unspeakable love. "Love you, more than you'll ever know."

He stood up and looked at the Doctor asking, "So, I'm guessing that something bad will happen if I touch myself?"

He shrugged a bit, "Depends really. It would create one hell of a paradox and especially since there is so much energy around it wouldn't be very wise. Paradoxes are tricky; sometimes they do nothing at all, but other times…" He remembered when Rose had gone back to see her father, that had been a disaster. (4)

They were pulled back from their thoughts as a baby's cry sounded. They both looked and saw that baby Harry was back from his meeting, one that he would not remember.

"Aww, it's okay little guy," the Doctor cooed to him. Gently, he picked up the toddler and his crying lessened to sniffles.

"Ma!" he cried, looking down and seeing Lily on the floor.

The Doctor shook his head sadly, "Sorry, no Ma."

Harry then pointed his hand to a pile of robes and a wand that were laying on the floor and said, with obvious distaste and fear, "Bad Man!"

"Yes Harry, Bad Man, very Bad Man." Current Harry was amazed at how natural and easy the Doctor handled the fussy young Harry. He looked like a father. He couldn't have had a family before… right?

The Doctor paused for a moment and looked at Little Harry, saying, "Now Harry, I have to go now, but I'll be seeing you again, I promise."

Little Harry waved at the man tearfully, watching as he and another boy, who looked strangely familiar, left.

Harry entered the TARDIS and after a short look to the Doctor, retreated to his room to mourn in peace. It was then that the Doctor wondered something.

Had Harry ever been able to mourn them? Been able to cry for them?

From what he gathered of his young companion's childhood, which honestly could have been so much worse, but thankfully wasn't, not that it had been god at all, he hadn't have had the time to cry for them, he never could. And when he started school, it had been the only thing on his mind, as well as everything and anything else the he put to the front to avoid the pain that came with loss and the constant reminder.

No one had ever let him grieve either. Oh, the Doctor knew plenty about grieving: even with his great Gallifreyan mind, he couldn't remember how long he had grieved, as he had had plenty of time to do it.

Along with not being able to mourn, Harry could show no flaws in their eyes, no mistake. To scant few who hardly realized differently anyway, he was Harry Potter, a boy with a rather tragic life. To most of the world and to people he would never know, he was The- Boy- Who- Lived. And now to the Doctor, himself, and to other characters who had yet to play a role, he was Abhorsen.

But right now, he was a scared and confused boy, and most importantly the Doctor's charge.

With one last look at the house, he whispered, not feeling foolish at all, "I promise you, I will protect him as best I can; I won't let him do this alone."

With that, he closed to TARDIS doors and set the coordinates for somewhere sunny and cheerful. Just was the whirling sound stopped, a motorcycle dropped onto the ground and an anguished cry filled the air of someone who would have plenty of time to remember his friends.

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Author's Notes:

Review!

1) "Blessed be" Yeah, I got that from Charmed, which I don't own.

2) I also got that scene from Charmed as well from Season 4, episode 3 "Hell Hath No Fury" I don't own it and I just really like the scene at the end when Piper finally confronts her anger over losing Prue.

3) Pretty sure that's from Doctor Who, I think "The Satan Pit" Season 2, I'm not sure, and if it is, then I don't own that either.

4) I know that this is from Doctor Who Season 1, "Father's Day" don't own.


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